The Brontë Sisters & Anne Brontë 
Jane Eyre / Wuthering Heights / Agnes Grey 

‘Jane Eyre’ (originally published as ‘Jane Eyre: An Autobiography’) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published on 16 October 1847, by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name ‘Currer Bell.’ The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Primarily of the ‘Bildungsroman’ genre, ‘Jane Eyre’ follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. In its internalisation of the action—the focus is on the gradual unfolding of Jane’s moral and spiritual sensibility, and all the events are coloured by a heightened intensity that was previously the domain of poetry—’Jane Eyre’ revolutionised the art of fiction. Charlotte Brontë has been called the ‘first historian of the private consciousness’ and the literary ancestor of writers like Joyce and Proust. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel’s exploration of classism, sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism.’Wuthering Heights’ is Emily Brontë’s only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, ‘Wuthering Heights’ was published in 1847 under the pseudonym ‘Ellis Bell’; Brontë died the following year, aged 30. ‘Wuthering Heights’ and Anne Brontë’s ‘Agnes Grey’ were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte’s novel, ‘Jane Eyre’. After Emily’s death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of ‘Wuthering Heights’, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.’Agnes Grey’ is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë (writing under the pen name of Acton Bell), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne’s sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë’s own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte’s novel ‘Jane Eyre’, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. ‘Agnes Grey’ also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of bildungsromans, employing ideas of personal growth and coming to age, but representing a character who in fact does not gain in virtue.