<p>Written when she was twenty-six <em>Agnes Grey</em> is Anne Brontë’s first novel. It tells the story of a rector’s daughter who has to earn her living as a governess when her family enters a financial crisis. Drawing directly from her own experiences Anne Brontë set out to describe the immense pressures that the governess’ life involved: the frustration the isolation and the insensitive and cruel treatment on the part of employers and their families.</p> <p>Mature insightful and edged with a quiet irony this debut displays a keen sense of moral responsibility and sharp eye for bourgeois attitudes and behavior—and the corrosive power of wealth.</p>