A heart-warming love story with themes of fierce feminine independence, Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey is a sensational semi-autobiographical novel.
Taking inspiration from her own life experiences, Anne writes about a young governess, Agnes Grey, and the struggles and joys she faces as she embarks on her challenging career. From unmanageable children to the kindness of a gentle curate, Agnes keenly feels the highs and lows of her new life and battles against the challenge so many women are familiar with: feeling invisible.
First published in 1847, this short novel covers many of the same themes as Charlotte Brontë’s earlier work, Jane Eyre, and is a wonderful insight into life for women in the nineteenth century.
About the author
Anne Brontë (1820–1849) was an English writer and the youngest of the three Brontë sisters. Writing under the male pseudonym of Acton Bell, she published a book of poetry with her sisters, Charlotte and Emily, in 1846. Her two novels, ‘Agnes Grey’ (1847) and ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ (1848) are now recognised as classics of English literature, the latter being considered one of the first feminist works of fiction.