Agnes Grey

In her daring first novel the youngest Brontë sister drew upon her own experiences to tell the unvarnished truth about life as a governess. Like Agnes Grey Anne Brontë was a young middle-class Victorian lady whose family fortunes had faltered. Like so many other unmarried women of the nineteenth century Brontë accepted the only respectable employment available--and entered a world of hardship humiliation and loneliness.<br>Written with a realism that shocked critics this biting social commentary offers a sympathetic portrait of Agnes and a moving indictment of her brutish and haughty employers. Separated from her family and friends by many miles paid little more than subsistence wages Agnes stands alone--both in society at large and in a household where she is neither family member nor servant. <i>Agnes Grey</i> remains a landmark in the literature of social history. In addition to its challenge to the era's chauvinism and materialism it features a first-person narrative that offers a rare opportunity to hear the voice of a Victorian working woman.