Agnes Grey
It's probably not quite fair to Anne, but reading this calm and rational book, one cannot help comparing it to the tempestuous governess/schoolteacher stories by her sister Charlotte. I get the feeling that although both were drawing on autobiographical experience, Anne's was much less embellished (except for the love story and happy ending). There are painful moments, but they are less to do with impossible love and madwomen in the attic, and more to do with nasty little boys tormenting animals. Or, indeed, nasty children/teenagers and their nasty parents, in all varieties.If she is writing herself into her novel, Anne wrote a very lonely woman indeed. I am glad, at least, that she gave her fictional self a good husband and a lovely family.
