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Anne Brontë: Agnes Grey (1988, Penguin)

264 pages

English language

Published Nov. 20, 1988 by Penguin.

ISBN:
978-0-14-043210-7
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4 stars (2 reviews)

45 editions

reviewed Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë (The World's classics)

Review of 'Agnes Grey' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is Anne's first novel and it's a lesser work than the subsequent Tenant of Wildfell Hall but it shows some similarities; it is most powerful when tackling social issues of autobiographical concern to the author; the protagonist is a bit self-righteous; it never suffers the dullness that afflicts the lesser parts of Jane Eyre; it never tilts over into the almost insane hysterical passion of Wuthering Heights.

It seems fairly obvious that Anne wanted to tackle the plight of poorly treated governesses and bolted a very conventional and largely uninspired romance on the end in order to make it a novel. This romance section in itself serves more to act as a warning about the potential fate of people who marry merely for money or social status than to provide any satisfying against-the-odds meeting of soul-mates; the outcome is dictated by convenient chance. I note that as with other …