Agnes Grey

This was the first novel written by the underrated Anne Bronte.  It discusses the life of a governess.  The first family she has are cruel people.  Agnes gets outraged when she sees the boy mistreat a bird.  She teaches him a violent lesson with the birds which results in her getting fired.  With the next family she steadily becomes friends with the flirtatious Rosalie who Agnes feels for after she ends up in an unhappy marriage.  Things are all right in the end as Agnes gets the man you want for her as well Mr. Weston, a parson.  Anne’s masterpiece is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall but this is a promising start.   I hope that Masterpiece Theatre does a production of it one day.