Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils


Uneven book - Warning for SPOILERS !, 25 Oct 2008
1848 was quite a year in History : everywhere in Europe, but perhaps most specifically in France, revolutions were carried by those who felt were left out of the system. Flaubert wrote about it in L'Education Sentimentale. And in a way, the revolutionary elements of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall allow me to say that Anne Brontë, on another level, wrote very much about 1848 too.

The book is presented as a series of narratives reminiscent of the complex struture of Wuthering Heights : Mr Markham, a kind farmer, writes letters to his brother-in-law confiding in him his feelings towards a woman, Mrs Graham, who has just lent the house nearby and who seems to be a widow living alone with her son. Her moral principles and I would say austerity surprise the whole community not used to meeting a woman who takes such great care of her offspring so as to protect him from great or harmless dangers and everything in between. As the story enfolds, Markham gets closer and closer to Mrs Helen Graham even though this advancement can and should be contrasted with the polite coldness with which she accepts his attentions. One day, and this is the second level of narrative, she decides she wants him to understand what happened to her and gives him her diary in which we learn that she and little Arthur, her son, were abused by a self-indulgent, drunk and sadistic (in that he knows exactly what he's doing and takes pleasure in doing it) husband and father, Mr Huntington. To protect her and little Arthur's life, Helen had to flee and live as a recluse in a small village.

As the introduction to my edition reminded me, during the whole book, Helen is an outlaw. Not only was it shocking and not proper for a woman to leave her husband and taking the fruit of the marriage with her, it was just plain illegal and in surrendering her diary to Markham, Helen understands she might as well go to the nearest police station. It did strike me that the most revolutionary part of the story was delivered to us second-hand (by a character who reads the journal containing the story), we are deprived of an expected first-hand account of the events but with a publication in 1848, the heyday of the victorian era, it could be seen as a means for Brontë to somewhat stiffle its power. It is subversive in that it is an appealing portrait of an outlaw but also because in the middle of the 19th century it contains an allusion to suicide (and not related to the one you'd think).
Of course, there's no arguing this is also a feminist book and very much so - Anne Brontë's makes her point very clearly : in victorian society, women have no status and their only goal in life is to live for somebody else, be it husband (wives) or father (and daughters). Helen has to support herself and Arthur through art. It also depicts the struggle of one person trying to fit boundaries, especially religious and moral ones, when she has broken every other boundary society had imposed on her. It is difficult to warm to Helen for just that reason : even though 21st century readers of course sympathize and understand very well what she's done, because of her austerity (she constantly refers to religion and the Bible, even quoting specific characters of the book to answer questions she's being asked, as my edition very cleverly shows it in its explanatory notes), we are prevented from ever relating to her. If her action is understandable, the part when she falls for Huntington before agreeing to marrying him is way less justifiable : all the clues are already here, he is jealous, spoilt and enjoys teasing her and making her ill-at-ease, yet she is attracted to that dangerous, reckless part of him. Because of this rather cold main protagonist, the reader has to rely on subplots and other characters to keep him or her satisfied, especially in the first part of the book which has many elements of the detective novel : Mr Lawrence is believed by Markham to be wooing Helen although several clues are given to some other connection between them, and Helen herself is a mystery during a great part of the book, an adulterous affair between two married people has to be deciphered. The sirupy end was just another a testament of Brontë's uneven style.
Even though Anne Brontë's realistic book kept me interested throughout, I think the way she portrays her characters could have been improved. It is of course way more radical than her sisters' works on the one hand (feminism) but on the other it indulges in some austerity her sisters don't depict this much and I couldn't justify this part. This left me with a feeling of coldness and distance, a shame for a book that contains so much fire.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils


Uneven book - Warning for SPOILERS !, 25 Oct 2008
1848 was quite a year in History : everywhere in Europe, but perhaps most specifically in France, revolutions were carried by those who felt were left out of the system. Flaubert wrote about it in L'Education Sentimentale. And in a way, the revolutionary elements of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall allow me to say that Anne Brontë, on another level, wrote very much about 1848 too.

The book is presented as a series of narratives reminiscent of the complex struture of Wuthering Heights : Mr Markham, a kind farmer, writes letters to his brother-in-law confiding in him his feelings towards a woman, Mrs Graham, who has just lent the house nearby and who seems to be a widow living alone with her son. Her moral principles and I would say austerity surprise the whole community not used to meeting a woman who takes such great care of her offspring so as to protect him from great or harmless dangers and everything in between. As the story enfolds, Markham gets closer and closer to Mrs Helen Graham even though this advancement can and should be contrasted with the polite coldness with which she accepts his attentions. One day, and this is the second level of narrative, she decides she wants him to understand what happened to her and gives him her diary in which we learn that she and little Arthur, her son, were abused by a self-indulgent, drunk and sadistic (in that he knows exactly what he's doing and takes pleasure in doing it) husband and father, Mr Huntington. To protect her and little Arthur's life, Helen had to flee and live as a recluse in a small village.

As the introduction to my edition reminded me, during the whole book, Helen is an outlaw. Not only was it shocking and not proper for a woman to leave her husband and taking the fruit of the marriage with her, it was just plain illegal and in surrendering her diary to Markham, Helen understands she might as well go to the nearest police station. It did strike me that the most revolutionary part of the story was delivered to us second-hand (by a character who reads the journal containing the story), we are deprived of an expected first-hand account of the events but with a publication in 1848, the heyday of the victorian era, it could be seen as a means for Brontë to somewhat stiffle its power. It is subversive in that it is an appealing portrait of an outlaw but also because in the middle of the 19th century it contains an allusion to suicide (and not related to the one you'd think).
Of course, there's no arguing this is also a feminist book and very much so - Anne Brontë's makes her point very clearly : in victorian society, women have no status and their only goal in life is to live for somebody else, be it husband (wives) or father (and daughters). Helen has to support herself and Arthur through art. It also depicts the struggle of one person trying to fit boundaries, especially religious and moral ones, when she has broken every other boundary society had imposed on her. It is difficult to warm to Helen for just that reason : even though 21st century readers of course sympathize and understand very well what she's done, because of her austerity (she constantly refers to religion and the Bible, even quoting specific characters of the book to answer questions she's being asked, as my edition very cleverly shows it in its explanatory notes), we are prevented from ever relating to her. If her action is understandable, the part when she falls for Huntington before agreeing to marrying him is way less justifiable : all the clues are already here, he is jealous, spoilt and enjoys teasing her and making her ill-at-ease, yet she is attracted to that dangerous, reckless part of him. Because of this rather cold main protagonist, the reader has to rely on subplots and other characters to keep him or her satisfied, especially in the first part of the book which has many elements of the detective novel : Mr Lawrence is believed by Markham to be wooing Helen although several clues are given to some other connection between them, and Helen herself is a mystery during a great part of the book, an adulterous affair between two married people has to be deciphered. The sirupy end was just another a testament of Brontë's uneven style.
Even though Anne Brontë's realistic book kept me interested throughout, I think the way she portrays her characters could have been improved. It is of course way more radical than her sisters' works on the one hand (feminism) but on the other it indulges in some austerity her sisters don't depict this much and I couldn't justify this part. This left me with a feeling of coldness and distance, a shame for a book that contains so much fire.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils


Uneven book - Warning for SPOILERS !, 25 Oct 2008
1848 was quite a year in History : everywhere in Europe, but perhaps most specifically in France, revolutions were carried by those who felt were left out of the system. Flaubert wrote about it in L'Education Sentimentale. And in a way, the revolutionary elements of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall allow me to say that Anne Brontë, on another level, wrote very much about 1848 too.

The book is presented as a series of narratives reminiscent of the complex struture of Wuthering Heights : Mr Markham, a kind farmer, writes letters to his brother-in-law confiding in him his feelings towards a woman, Mrs Graham, who has just lent the house nearby and who seems to be a widow living alone with her son. Her moral principles and I would say austerity surprise the whole community not used to meeting a woman who takes such great care of her offspring so as to protect him from great or harmless dangers and everything in between. As the story enfolds, Markham gets closer and closer to Mrs Helen Graham even though this advancement can and should be contrasted with the polite coldness with which she accepts his attentions. One day, and this is the second level of narrative, she decides she wants him to understand what happened to her and gives him her diary in which we learn that she and little Arthur, her son, were abused by a self-indulgent, drunk and sadistic (in that he knows exactly what he's doing and takes pleasure in doing it) husband and father, Mr Huntington. To protect her and little Arthur's life, Helen had to flee and live as a recluse in a small village.

As the introduction to my edition reminded me, during the whole book, Helen is an outlaw. Not only was it shocking and not proper for a woman to leave her husband and taking the fruit of the marriage with her, it was just plain illegal and in surrendering her diary to Markham, Helen understands she might as well go to the nearest police station. It did strike me that the most revolutionary part of the story was delivered to us second-hand (by a character who reads the journal containing the story), we are deprived of an expected first-hand account of the events but with a publication in 1848, the heyday of the victorian era, it could be seen as a means for Brontë to somewhat stiffle its power. It is subversive in that it is an appealing portrait of an outlaw but also because in the middle of the 19th century it contains an allusion to suicide (and not related to the one you'd think).
Of course, there's no arguing this is also a feminist book and very much so - Anne Brontë's makes her point very clearly : in victorian society, women have no status and their only goal in life is to live for somebody else, be it husband (wives) or father (and daughters). Helen has to support herself and Arthur through art. It also depicts the struggle of one person trying to fit boundaries, especially religious and moral ones, when she has broken every other boundary society had imposed on her. It is difficult to warm to Helen for just that reason : even though 21st century readers of course sympathize and understand very well what she's done, because of her austerity (she constantly refers to religion and the Bible, even quoting specific characters of the book to answer questions she's being asked, as my edition very cleverly shows it in its explanatory notes), we are prevented from ever relating to her. If her action is understandable, the part when she falls for Huntington before agreeing to marrying him is way less justifiable : all the clues are already here, he is jealous, spoilt and enjoys teasing her and making her ill-at-ease, yet she is attracted to that dangerous, reckless part of him. Because of this rather cold main protagonist, the reader has to rely on subplots and other characters to keep him or her satisfied, especially in the first part of the book which has many elements of the detective novel : Mr Lawrence is believed by Markham to be wooing Helen although several clues are given to some other connection between them, and Helen herself is a mystery during a great part of the book, an adulterous affair between two married people has to be deciphered. The sirupy end was just another a testament of Brontë's uneven style.
Even though Anne Brontë's realistic book kept me interested throughout, I think the way she portrays her characters could have been improved. It is of course way more radical than her sisters' works on the one hand (feminism) but on the other it indulges in some austerity her sisters don't depict this much and I couldn't justify this part. This left me with a feeling of coldness and distance, a shame for a book that contains so much fire.

Goveness in Strife, 28 May 2008
I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend. I had come to the book expecting a poor man's version of Jane Eyre but though it is set in the life of a goveness, the story is much more subtle. It really explores what the life of a goveness what like. The descriptions of the brats that our poor protaganist is charged with the education of is spot on. (For anybody who complains about the children of today, take a look at this lot.) The isolation and the cruelties bestowed upon them. There is no dashing Rochester, no mad woman in the attic, no mystery to be solved. Just the reader and the experience. It was refreshing and heartbreaking. However, it need some ummmmph. Agnes doesn't take a stand, doesn't fight for what she wants and I found that aspect very frustrating. The romance was underplayed and folded gently throughout the narrative but I wasn't shouting 'yes!' when they united at the end. Mr Weston was a bit wet to be honest but because you like Agnes you want what she wants.
All-in-all different but not enouggh

A modest version of Jane Eyre, 20 Mar 2008
I cannot say I do not enjoy "Agnes Grey", but I find the plot two linear and slightly deficient in suspense. If compared to her sister's governess novel, this one is quite inferior in my opinion. Anne Brontë's talent will shine more clearly in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".Beautiful prose though, and satisfactory happy ending to make up for the heroine's suffering.

Simple narrative about the plight of the C19 governess, 28 Nov 2007
Agnes Grey suffers probably the worst critical reputation of all the Bronte sisters' novels apart from Charlotte's The Professor, though hardly any would call it a bad book.

This is a simple narrative of the trials of a poor governess, substantially based upon the author's own experiences. Apparently it is the best extant contemporary evidence we have of that occupation - the only 'respectable' occupation open to an educated woman who did not marry in the mnid C19. It expounds, somewhat pleadingly, the impossible position in which the typical governess is placed.

The narrator herself is an infuriatingly moral, religious girl. You sometimes find yourself wishing she would just lighten up a bit. Passion comes in the smallest flickers: this is a cool, detatched book.

A charming, simple tale of Victorian England, 01 Apr 2007
This was a simple, albeit enjoyable tale of Agnes Grey, a younger daughter who seeks her way in the world employed as a governess. I understand this tale is based upon Ms. Bronte's own experiences and brings to light the snobbery of the upper class along with the often degrading way that the servants are treated by the same.

The first family literally has the children from h***, the second family being not quite as abusive, but still treat the servants as second class people. The young Misses Murray are self centered and thoughtless, particularly the elder (who gets what she deserves in the end).

I have been reading a book called the Selected Works of the Bronte sisters, and it's been interesting to compare the sisters' writing styles. Anne's is much closer to Chartlotte's, with the gorgeous flowing prose, but not quite so littered with the large words and the smattering of french.

Well worth your time checking out for a pleasant, short read.


a beautifully written book., 14 Feb 2007
This book provides a wonderful insight into the lives of gently bred women who find they suddenly have to support themselves in a male /class dominated society.
Short enough to read in a few days and a much easier read than Wuthering Heights and the like. Yes some of the characters are caricatures, Agnes a little too good to be true and there isn't much plot compared to her sisters Jane Eyre but its still a wonderfully simple tale that I never wanted to end.
Funny how some things never change - the problems the governess had then can be seen in the problems teachers have today- low pay, expected to produce exceptional results yet given no power to discipline your pupils


Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality.

I was wrong, the style is pedestrian, and although the characterisation is good, the evocative language or lack of makes the book quite dull at times. It is clear why this is not regarded a classic like the other two.

Now, the book was not bad. I think Hellen, Gilbert and Mr Huntingdon were written very well, but the whole book did not feel satisfying. Do not read, unless you have read wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre first, and even then, it's not essential to read.

Move aside Emily and Charlotte, here's Anne!, 31 Aug 2008
As a eager fan of Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' and Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', I'm confused why Anne isn't better known for this masterpiece. The story of how heroine Helen escapes from her drunk and abusive husband is still relevant today, and was perhaps was too before its time when it was written. If only I could pen such a masterpiece at just 28!

beautiful book, 07 Jun 2008
both of anne bronte's books are excellent but this one is bigger and more detailed...superb narrative particularly when you get to her diary, that bit is just superb. You will be hooked to the end. A****

One of life's pleasures, 05 Apr 2008
This is Anne Brontë at her best. Even if I cannot say I dislike "Agnes Grey", this novel is superior in every respect. The main character, Helen, is original and really modern for those times. The plot is well constructed and the suspense so well built that it is impossible to stop reading.
The subject matter is a one-off in Victorian literature: a woman who is brave enough to leave her abusive husband.We are all indebted to women writers such as Anne who denounced in their books everything that was unfair about their society.
Undoubtedly a must-read.

Surprisingly good, 22 Nov 2007
Anne is often classed as the least talented of the Bronte sisters. In this book certainly, she can however hold her head up. She, like her sisters, takes a subject which was considered unacceptable for women to write about and turns it into a fantastically complex and richly rewarding novel.
Here she deals with the subject of alcoholism and its detrimental effects on a family. The knowledge of this is often supposed to come from her own family's dealings with their alcoholic and drug addicted brother, Branwell Bronte, and it is certain that she does have some experience of such issues, wherever they come from, because she writes with a passion and humanity that ring true.
The story is interesting because it deals with what happens to a woman who marries a man who is no good. In Victorian times there were very limited options for women of the middle classes. If they didn't marry they were forced to endure life as either a governess or a dependent of more affluent members of their family. Marriage was the best of a bad bunch, but what to do when that marriage is a living hell and you have few means of escape.
Here, the heroine, Helen, escapes from her rakehell husband for the sake of her young son, and lives a life of isolation in the country. Her burgeoning friendship and love for Gilbert Markham turns her carefully sought sanctuary upside down and puts her in an even more difficult position than previously.
This is realistic, well plotted and is incredibly suspenseful. You feel for the characters and their difficulties. If they follow their natural instincts they will be forced to break away from the society that both cocoons and imprisons them. It is this dilemma which forms the axis of the tension within the book. Great stuff.

Disappointing for a Bronte, 02 Aug 2007
After reading Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and enjoying them immensely and being obsessed with them, I thought that the third, less well known sister's novels would be of the same quality. <