The heroine is a sort of younger sister to Jane Eyre, but inferior to her in every way.’ (Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper) The dispiriting nature of life as a governess is at the heart of Agnes GreyĪnne must have been frustrated by the insinuations that she had in effect copied, or at least taken inspiration from, Currer’s tale of a governess ‘Jane Eyre’. In either case, Agnes Grey is a tale well worth the writing and the reading.

We do not actually assert that the author must have been a governess himself, to describe as he does the minute torments and incessant tediums of her life, but he must have bribed some governess very largely, either with love or money, to reveal to him the secrets of her prison-house, or, he must have devoted extraordinary powers of observation and discovery to the elucidation of the subject.

‘Of Agnes Grey, much need not be said, further than this, that it is the autobiography of a young lady during the time she was a governess in two different families neither of which is a favourable specimen of the advantages of home education. The endless comparisons to ‘Jane Eyre’ can also be seen in the following review: The reviewer’s views are perhaps slightly undermined here by his inability to spell Jane Austen’s name correctly. This encapsulates one of the problems Anne had, her work was always compared with that of Ellis and Currer Bell – whose ‘Jane Eyre’ is also frequently mentioned in the review. It leaves no painful impression on the mind – some may think it leaves no impression at all.’ (The Atlas) Perhaps we shall best describe it as a somewhat coarse imitation of one of Miss Austin’s charming stories… The story, though lacking the power and originality of Wuthering Heights, is infinitely more agreeable. ‘ Agnes Grey is more level and more sunny. Let’s take a look at what some of the leading publications had to say about Anne Brontë’s ‘Agnes Grey’: The Agnes Grey frontispiece from the first edition Unfortunately, many of the opinions passed on the Brontës, or the Bells as they were known then, were highly unperceptive, and say more about the reviewers and the restrictive, often puritanical, nature of mid nineteenth century society than they do about the books. This was an exciting period for Charlotte too, as her ‘Jane Eyre’, despite being written long after her sisters’ novels, had already been released two months earlier, and the siblings must, like all new authors, have been waiting excitedly for the reviews to roll in. We know them better as Anne Brontë and Emily Brontë, of course, and the novels were ‘Agnes Grey’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’. Anne Brontë: Writer Of Genius, Woman Of Courageĭecember 1847 saw the release of the debut novels of Acton Bell and Ellis Bell, published alongside each other in three volumes.Please enter your email address to subscribe to my Anne Bronte blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Anne bronte novel grey