Agnes Grey
"Agnes Grey" is a 1847 novel by English author Anne Brontë. Her debut novel, it tells the story of a governess called Agnes Grey who works in families of the English upper class in the early nineteenth century. Widely believed to have been heavily influenced by her own experiences as a governess, is an authentic portrayal of their delicate roles and how they affected young women. Anne Brontë (1820 - 1849) was an English novelist and poet. She was the youngest member of world-renowned the Brontë family, famous for their contributions to English literature. Although her novels are now classics of English literature, she was not as well known as her sisters-partly due to the fact that her sister Emily Brontë prevented the re-publication of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" after her death. This fantastic novel is highly recommended for all lovers of the English language and is well deserving of a place on any bookshelf. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
'...it is not enough to say that I no longer love my husband I HATE him!' Anne Bronte's second novel, published in 1848, defends a woman's right to flee a disastrous marriage; a daring subject that her sister Charlotte feared at the time was 'an entire mistake'. When the attractive and mysterious Helen Graham moves into Wildfell Hall with her young son and sets up her artist's studio, she arouses village curiosity as well as the amorous interest of farmer Gilbert Markham. Gilbert finds Helen's resolute independence impossible to understand, until she allows him to read her diary and her troubled past is revealed.
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.
The Professor
The Professor is Charlotte Brontës first novel, in which she audaciously inhabits the voice and consciousness of a man, William Crimsworth. Like Jane Eyre he is parentless; like Lucy Snowe in Villette he leaves the certainties of England to forge a life in Brussels. But as a man, William has freedom of action, and as a writer Brontë is correspondingly liberated, exploring the relationship between power and sexual desire.
William's first person narration reveals his attraction to the dominating directress of the girls' school where he teaches, played out in the school's 'secret garden'. Balanced against this is his more temperate relationship with one of his pupils, Frances Henri, in which mastery and submission interplay. The Professor was published only after Charlotte Brontës death; today it gives us a fascinating insight into the first stirrings of her supreme creative imagination.
Shirley
Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of unemployment and discontent among his workers. Robert considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline, who, bored and desperate, lives as a dependent in her uncle's home with no prospect of a career. Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor - a match opposed by her family. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled? Set during the Napoleonic wars at a time of national economic struggles, Shirley (1849) is an unsentimental, yet passionate depiction of conflict between classes, sexes and generations.
Villette
With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Department of English, Canterbury Christ Church University College.
Based on Charlotte Brontë's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels, Villette is a moving tale of repressed feelings and subjection to cruel circumstance and position, borne with heroic fortitude.
Rising above the frustrations of confinement within a rigid social order, it is also the story of a woman's right to love and be loved.
Wuthering Heights
Introduction and Notes by John S. Whitley, University of Sussex.
Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy