Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë

"All true histories contain instruction."

Agnes Grey, a minister's daughter, becomes a governess to support her family. She works for two wealthy families, the Bloomfields and the Murrays, where she is treated with disdain and forced to manage spoiled, cruel children. Amidst the indignities of her position, she finds hope in the quiet curate Edward Weston.

Anne Brontë's debut is a realistic and unromanticized look at the life of a Victorian governess. It exposes the lack of moral upbringing in the upper classes and the precarious social position of educated but poor women.