Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Further proof that they only Brontë sister I like is Emily. I adore Wuthering Heights (predictably), but absolutely cannot stand Jane Eyre, and the only thing I had read by Anne Brontë was The Tennant of Wildfeld Hall many years ago, which I don't remember disliking, so I thought I would give her a try again. Every single character just enraged me, I have to give Anne Brontë credit for making so many characters so uniquely annoying (however unintentionally in some cases). Agnes herself is completely unbearable, horribly self-righteous, and if I had been one of her pupils, I probably would have hated her too. I actually quite liked her at the beginning, when her reaction to her family's misfortunes is almost one of excitement, wanting to work and help instead of depression, but she is just so irritating! Her pupils and their parents are awful, but I couldn't really sympathise with her. The time she doesn't spend trying ineffectually to control her pupils, she spends obsessing over the nightmarishly dull, pious curate, with whom she has probably the most dry courtship ever. Agnes just moves though the story blissfully unaware of how incredibly pedantic and sanctimonious she is. I don't think the writing is in any way remarkable, there was really nothing that caught my attention in terms of style or plot. Very standard-issue Victorian novel. Poor Emily, having to live with two such boring and annoying sisters!