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StoryPDFAgnes GreyAnne Bronte

Agnes Grey

Anne Bronte

Complete text
NovelEnglish

When her family's finances decline, Agnes Grey becomes a governess, hoping that useful work will bring independence. Inside prosperous households she discovers that responsibility for children comes with little authority, while employers seldom recognize either her labor or her feelings.

25 sections68,157 wordsAbout 5 h 10 min
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About Agnes Grey

Agnes recounts humiliations with a restraint that makes their accumulated force unmistakable. The governess belongs neither to the servants nor to the family, and this unsettled position shapes what she can say. Small gestures of consideration matter in a story attentive to teaching, animal cruelty, religious sincerity, and self-respect.

Reading focus

See domestic employment through a governess's measured account of class dependence, difficult pupils, and the search for mutual respect.

This reading edition contains 68,157 words in 25 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Anne Bronte. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut. Whether this be the case with my history or not, I am hardly competent to judge. I sometimes think it might prove useful to some, and entertaining to others; but the world may judge for itself. Shielded by my own obscurity, and by the lapse of years, and a few fictitious names, I do not fear to venture; and will candidly lay before the public what I would not disclose to the most intimate friend.

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Contents

All sections
  1. CHAPTER I. THE PARSONAGE21 min
  2. CHAPTER II. FIRST LESSONS IN THE ART OF INSTRUCTION13 min
  3. CHAPTER III. A FEW MORE LESSONS20 min
  4. CHAPTER IV. THE GRANDMAMMA15 min
  5. CHAPTER V. THE UNCLE11 min
  6. CHAPTER VI. THE PARSONAGE AGAIN10 min
  7. CHAPTER VII. HORTON LODGE26 min
  8. CHAPTER VIII. THE “COMING OUT”5 min
  9. CHAPTER IX. THE BALL7 min
  10. CHAPTER X. THE CHURCH9 min
  11. CHAPTER XI. THE COTTAGERS26 min
  12. CHAPTER XII. THE SHOWER7 min
  13. CHAPTER XIII. THE PRIMROSES12 min
  14. CHAPTER XIV. THE RECTOR23 min
  15. CHAPTER XV. THE WALK12 min
  16. CHAPTER XVI. THE SUBSTITUTION7 min
  17. CHAPTER XVII. CONFESSIONS18 min
  18. CHAPTER XVIII. MIRTH AND MOURNING15 min
  19. CHAPTER XIX. THE LETTER6 min
  20. CHAPTER XX. THE FAREWELL9 min
  21. CHAPTER XXI. THE SCHOOL11 min
  22. CHAPTER XXII. THE VISIT14 min
  23. CHAPTER XXIII. THE PARK7 min
  24. CHAPTER XXIV. THE SANDS10 min
  25. CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION10 min

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This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 25 sections and 68,157 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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