![Book Cover of Agnes Grey](/image/book/agnes-grey.webp)
Agnes Grey
by Anne Brontë
'Agnes Grey' Summary
Agnes Grey, A Novel is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë (writing under the pen name of "Acton Bell"), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman.
The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. Agnes Grey also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of bildungsromans, employing ideas of personal growth and coming to age.
The Irish novelist George Moore praised Agnes Grey as "the most perfect prose narrative in English letters," and went so far as to compare Anne's prose to that of Jane Austen. Modern critics have made more subdued claims admiring Agnes Grey with a less overt praise of Brontë's work than Moore.
Book Details
Author
![Anne Brontë image](/thumbs/image/author/anne-bronte.webp)
Anne Brontë
England
Anne Brontë was an English novelist and poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne Brontë was the daughter of Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish clergyman in the...
More on Anne BrontëDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books
![Flemington Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/flemington.webp)
Flemington by Violet Jacob
In the quiet English village of Flemington, secrets and passions simmer beneath the surface. Violet Jacob's Flemington is a classic English novel tha...
![Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/lorna-doone-a-romance-of-exmoor.webp)
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R.D. Blackmore
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of hist...
![Granny's Wonderful Chair Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/grannys-wonderful-chair.webp)
Granny's Wonderful Chair by Frances Browne
This is the story of Snowflower. Left to fend for herself by her grandmother, Dame Frostyface, Snowflower turns to the ‘wonderful chair’ for company....
![The Love of Landry Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-love-of-landry.webp)
The Love of Landry by Paul Laurence Dunbar
This takes readers on a poignant journey through the complexities of love, race, and societal barriers. Set in the backdrop of post-Civil War America,...
![Wuthering Heights Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/wuthering-heights.webp)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Emily Bronte’s first and only novel, Wuthering Heights, portrays the obsessive and vengeful love story between Heathcliff and Catherine. Images of cru...
![Christopher Cricket on Cats Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/christopher-cricket-on-cats.webp)
Christopher Cricket on Cats by Anthony Henderson Euwer
In this captivating tale, Christopher Cricket, a peculiar and wise cricket with a knack for spinning tales, finds himself immersed in the captivating...
![The Ivory Tower Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-ivory-tower.webp)
The Ivory Tower by Henry James
It is a classic novel written in 1917. This book tells the story of a group of artists and intellectuals living in London during the early 20th centur...
![The Jack-Knife Man Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-jack-knife-man.webp)
The Jack-Knife Man by Ellis Parker Butler
In a small town in the American Midwest, a mysterious stranger arrives with a single suitcase and a pocketful of jackknives. The stranger, who calls...
![Joan and Peter Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/joan-and-peter.webp)
Joan and Peter by H. G. Wells
Joan and Peter, a 1918 novel by H. G. Wells, is at once a satirical portrait of late-Victorian and Edwardian England, a critique of the English educat...
![A Daughter of the Snows Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/a-daughter-of-the-snows.webp)
A Daughter of the Snows by Jack London
A Daughter of the Snows is Jack London's first novel. Set in the Yukon, it tells the story of Frona Welse, "a Stanford graduate and physical Valkyrie"...
Reviews for Agnes Grey
No reviews posted or approved, yet...