"Agnes Grey" by Anne Bronte

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (1847, 194 pages)  

Anne Bronte is overshadowed in the literary world by her sisters Charlotte and Emily.   She only lived a tragically short twenty nine years.   In addition to Agnes Grey, her first novel, she has one other work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Having very recently read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte I could not help but compare the two works.    Perhaps Agnes Grey does not look as deep into the minds and souls of it characters as Jane Eyre does.  Agnes Grey does have a gentle friendly seeming wisdom and quality that I really loved.   Perhaps the romance of Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre is more exciting somehow than that of Agnes Grey and her curate love, Mr Weston but it seems somehow more real.    I found it really entertaining and informative to read about Agnes Grey's life as a governess.  Some of her charges were quite the little monsters, such as the boy who liked to torture captured birds.    I thought Agnes' visit to the home of one of her former pupils, Rosalie Murray, who had realized her life ambition of becoming the wife of a lord, was a wonderful set piece that showed great insight into the dynamics of the relationships depicted.   I really enjoyed this book.   It is a lighter read than Jane Eyre but that does not mean a lighter book.    I welcomed the happy endings of the book.   I think most people who would have an interest in this book will be glad they read it.   I know I am.     I will read her second novel soon.     I also liked the fact that she included chapter titles for the episodes.  

I am including this book for these challenges
Mutual Reads-(Victorian Novels-completed with this work)-I will try for a higher level
New Authors (means new to the reader)
19th Century Women Writers
All About the Brontes Challenge-completed with this read-I will read on in the Brontes for sure.
Typically British
Take Another Change Challenge (read books by two different family members)

I will go on to read  Villete, Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and Wuthering Heights in the next six weeks or so and will probably end up reading all of the Bronte novels.   

Mel u