Introduction

 

The novel tells the story of Agnes Grey, the daughter of a minister, whose family comes to financial ruin. Desperate to earn the money to care for herself, she takes one of the few jobs allowed to respectable women in the early Victorian era – the role of governess to the children of the wealthy. In working with two different families (the Bloomfields and the Murrays), she comes to learn about the troubles that face a young woman who must try to reign in unruly, spoiled children for a living, and about the ability of wealth and status to destroy social values. After her father's death, Agnes’ mother opens a small school and makes her be a teacher and at that time finds happiness with a man who loves her for herself.