The youngest of the Bronte sisters, Anne Bronte published "Agnes Grey" in 1847 under the name Acton Bell.  Freshly re-packaged in this Signature Classics edition, it brings Victorian culture to life.

When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey  finds work as a governess to contribute to their meager income and assert her independence. But Agnes’s enthusiasm is swiftly extinguished as she struggles first with the unmanageable Bloomfield children and then with the painful disdain of the haughty Murray family.  T he only kindness she receives comes from Mr. Weston, the sober young curate.

 Anne Brontë’s first novel, which draws on her own experiences, offers a compelling personal perspective on the desperate position of unmarried, educated women for whom becoming a governess was the only respectable career open to them in Victorian society.

Paperback, 203 pages