The Victorian Governess
We think we know all about the life of the Victorian governess from novels like Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Vanity Fair. But how accurate are these accounts? This book is the first exploration of what life in the home schoolroom was really like. Drawing on original diaries and a variety of previously undiscovered sources, Kathryn Hughes describes why the period 1840-80 was the classic Age of the Governess.
In addition to telling a story about low wages, bratty pupils and lecherous employers, Hughes shows how the figure of the governess unlocks many of the key contradictions of the mid-Victorian period. The governess was a surrogate mother, who was herself childless, a young woman whose marriage prospects were restricted, and a family member who was sometimes mistaken for a servant. Her ‘plight’ kickstarted campaigns for better employment opportunities for women and alternative ways of educating girls for their futures as independent women.
PRAISE FOR THE VICTORIAN GOVERNESS
‘Illuminating, intelligent’
– Telegraph
‘The jewels of Hughes’s book are the excerpts from unpublished memoirs and letters by real governesses’
– Times
‘The book’s real fascination lies in what it tells us about the contradictory and confused nature of Victorian values and Victorian fears’ Literary Review
‘A serious, scholarly study but perfectly accessible to the general reader’
– Sunday Telegraph
‘Fascinating’
– Birmingham Post
‘An admirable study’
– The Tablet
‘Compelling’
– Times Educational Supplement