Agnes Grey - Anne Brontë - Book Review

4 stars

A very enjoyable read, despite the customary Bronte bleakness.

It's obviously a commentary on parenthood and marriage. Basically: Money, status, and comfort don't buy you happiness; and, overindulging your children (and not instilling good morals in them) is detrimental to their happiness and the happiness of anyone who has the misfortune to come across them. This is the general theme of the book.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS NEXT*
The children depicted in the book were terrible - oh my, the son in the first family was pretty much a psychopath! And the 'lovely' Rosalie in the second family was selfishness personified. We worry about 'the youth of today', well, as this book is apparently partly autobiographical, it appears the youth of the 19th Century were pretty awful too.

The gentle romance was lovely though.

All in all a good book, very enjoyable.