From its opening sentences Agnes Grey introduces a heroine who is honest perceptive and charming. Unfortunately the Bloomfields who engage her as a governess are rather less appealing and the incarnation of the suppressed cruelties and hypocrisies of the Victorian age. When Agnes moves to a marginally less alarming family one of her charges sets out to disrupt her only romantic hope. Critical satirical direct and honest Agnes Grey is a fine reflection of its author.