Why a Booktrail?
1800s: A story of a young governess thought to be modelled on the author’s actual life
Agnes Grey
What you need to know before your trail
When Agnes Grey’s family falls on hard times, she goes out to work as a governess to get some money and keep the family afloat. She knows it will be hard work but she is prepared for that. What she’s not prepared for however is just how badly behaved her first charges are going to be. Tom, Mary Ann and Fanny Bloomfield make her life a misery so after a short and unhappy time there, she decides to move on.
Sadly, her second situation is not much better than the first. There will be someone here however who will make life bearable.
Travel Guide
The setting as with many of the Bronte novels is Yorkshire and her poor home and the contrast of her moving to a village some 20 miles away in order to work for a rich family.
The setting here is the experience of the governess , her living conditions, treatment from ‘ higher social standing people and even their children. Agnes Grey is largely based on Anne Bronte’s own life as she worked for a governess for some years and so has a lot of knowledge and experience of how servants were treated and looked down upon by their employers.
For information on the Bronte sisters and the landscape, and to really experience the landscape captured in the novels, Haworth and the Bronte Parsonage where the family lived is a major starting point for any Bronte Booktrail.
Streetview Maps
A) Haworth main street
A) Haworth main street
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Agnes Grey
Author/Guide: Anne Bronte Destination: Yorkshire Departure Time: 1800s
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