| Agnes Grey is the younger daughter of a clergyman. She and her sister decide to work in order to help their parents financially. Agnes's sister, a skilled artist, starts making some money by selling her drawings; Agnes chooses to seek a position of a governess.
At first, she gets a position at Wellwood House, taking care of a bunch of spoiled children and dealing with careless, uninvolved parents. While she is given very little authority over the children and is not allowed to discipline them, Agnes is somehow expected to keep them under control and teach them good manners. Needless to say, the kids quickly figure out that they can pretty much do whatever they want. As they grow more wild and disobedient, the parents are upset with Agnes – in their eyes, it is of course the governess's fault. She is eventually dismissed. Refusing to give up, Agnes searches again and gets another post of a governess. This time the children she is in charge of are older and a little better behaved but no less spoiled and lazy. One of them is Rosalie, a selfish beauty who is only waiting for her “coming out” ball to start breaking men's hearts. When she notices that the local curate, Edward Weston, might be interested in Agnes, Rosalie does her best to drive them apart and make Mr. Weston fall in love with herself – just for the fun of it. Rosalie's sister helps her in every way, but their plotting eventually fails. | ||
|
Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Time/era of story - 1600-1899 Romance/Romance Problems Yes Kind of romance: Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - a teen Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - a teen Profession/status: Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 7 () Europe Yes European country: - England/UK Misc setting Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
||