Bronte Novels

The Professor - Charlotte Bronte

The Professor is Charlotte Brontë's first novel, in which she audaciously inhabits the voice and consciousness of a man, William Crimsworth. Like Jane Eyre he is parentless; like Lucy Snowe in Villette he leaves the certainties of England to forge a life in Brussels. But as a man, William has freedom of action, and as a writer Brontë is correspondingly liberated, exploring the relationship between power and sexual desire.

William's first person narration reveals his attraction to the dominating directress of the girls' school where he teaches, played out in the school's 'secret garden'. Balanced against this is his more temperate relationship with one of his pupils, Frances Henri, in which mastery and submission interplay. The Professor was published only after Charlotte Brontë's death; today it gives us a fascinating insight into the first stirrings of her supreme creative imagination.

Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte

Anne Bronte’s first novel, first published in 1847, “Agnes Grey” tells the story of its title character, a young girl who works as a governess for families of the English gentry. Bronte based this novel on her own experiences as a governess and depicts the loneliness, isolation, and vulnerability of the position. The novel begins with the Grey family falling on hard financial times and a young Agnes taking a job as a governess to both help her family and show her maturity and independence. She begins work with the wealthy Bloomfield family and is shocked to find them cruel, shallow, and unfair. The position does not last long and soon she is back home with her own family and planning to try again. She finds a place in the Murray household, which is even wealthier than her previous employer. While her situation has improved, she is still marginalized and lonely. In the end, Agnes finds happiness and fulfilment on her own terms. “Agnes Grey” is a stern rebuke of the shallowness of the upper class of Bronte’s time and a beautifully written account of the challenges faced by young women born without many opportunities.

• Author  -  Charlotte & Anne Bronte
• Series / Key Character  -  n/a
• Illustrated  -  No
• Age -  Adult
• ISBN  -  n/a
• Publisher  -  Wordsworth Classics
• Date  -  n/a
• Format  -  Paperback
• Weight  -  165g
• Size  -  20 x 13 cm
  
• Pages  -  n/a
• RRP  -  £n/a

Awards:  n/a