Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: Review

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: Review

Anne Bronte is often overlooked in favour of her sisters Emily and Charlotte - the former for her unprecedented power, the latter for her daring met with reserve. Anne is in many ways the 'other' Bronte - less is known of her, very little survives of her, and less attention is paid her. All we really have of her is her writing - her two novels, 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' and 'Agnes Grey', and numerous poems.

Agnes Grey is Anne's second and last novel - she died aged 28 of the same consumption that killed her brother and sister Emily. It is a placid, sanguine little novel - it contains little of the verve of Wuthering Heights nor the genius of Jane Eyre, but it is in its own way brilliant as a melancholy description of Anne's own experiences as an educated though ...