"The Story of a Governess" is one of the works by the master of domestic realism, the historical novel, and tales of the supernatural, Margaret Oliphant. She tells a story of a young girl ready for the self-denial of a governess position and the enclosed life of the old mansion, but, when turning pages, we learn that the fate and Mrs. Oliphant have made another plan for the young governess.
The figure of the governess is very familiar from nineteenth-century literature. Much less is known about the governess in reality. This book is the first rounded exploration of what the life of the home schoolroom was actually 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 governesses. She examines their numbers, recruitment, teaching methods, social position and prospects. The governess provides a key to the central Victorian concept of the lady. Her education consisted of a series of accomplishments designed to attract a husband able to keep her in the style to which she had become accustomed from birth. Becoming a governess was the only acceptable way of earning money open to a lady whose family could not support her in leisure. Being paid to educate another woman's children set in play a series of social and emotional tensions. 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.
This early work by Wilkie Collins was originally published in 1855. Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins' family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole's boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand. In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practiced. It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A., to good reviews. The 1860s saw Collins' creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The Moonstone, meanwhile is seen by many as the first true detective novel - T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels...in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe." Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.
When the high-spirited Lady Jane Stanhope finds herself facing a marriage ordered by her father, she flees home, disguises herself as "Plain Jane" and lands a governess position to the ward of the reclusive Marquess of Saybrook. Winning the love of the shy little ward is easy. Sparking arguments between herself and the mysterious Saybrook is delightful fun. But both are putting her heart in danger. Now she's caught between desire and her deception, for the most a titled lord can offer to a mere governess is ruin. AWARDS: Best Regency of the Year, nominee - RT magazine, 1998 REVIEWS: "...a finely wrought love story featuring an irresistible pair of lovers who will melt every reader's heart." ~RT magazine LESSONS IN LOVE, in series order The Defiant Governess Second Chances The Storybook Hero INTREPID HEROINES SERIES, in order Code of Honor The Hired Hero A Stroke of Luck Pistols at Dawn SCANDALOUS SECRETS SERIES, in order The Banished Bride Lady of Letters The Major's Mistake
An investigation of the Victorian governess novel as a specific genre. Based on a comprehensive set of nineteenth-century novels, governess manuals, articles and biographical material, it shows how the Victorian Governess novel made up a vital part of the governess debate, as well as of the more general debate on female education.
In the scintillating new novel by the author of "The Seduction of His Wife," a young woman longs for the one man she shouldn't--only to find out that the feeling is scandalously mutual. Original.
'How delightful to meet you again, Miss Louisa Sibson.' Jonathon, Lord Chesterholm's eyes bored holes into Louisa Sibson's back. The former fiancée he's thought dead is very much alive… Louisa has rebuilt her life, after being dishonourably dismissed from her post as governess for allowing Jonathon to seduce her. Now Louisa lives by a rulebook of morals and virtue—the devastating Lord Chesterholm will not ruin her again! But Jonathon will get to the bottom of Louisa's disappearance—and he'll enjoy breaking a few of her rules along the way…!
Lively, original and highly readable, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies. Starting at ‘The Beginning’ and concluding with ‘The End’, chapters range from the familiar, such as ‘Character’, ‘Narrative’ and ‘The Author’, to the more unusual, such as ‘Secrets’, ‘Pleasure’ and ‘Ghosts’. Now in its fifth edition, Bennett and Royle’s classic textbook successfully illuminates complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works, so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, for example, while Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literature and laughter. The fifth edition has been revised throughout and includes four new chapters – ‘Feelings’, ‘Wounds’, ‘Body’ and ‘Love’ – to incorporate exciting recent developments in literary studies. In addition to further reading sections at the end of each chapter, the book contains a comprehensive bibliography and a glossary of key literary terms. A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the reader’s eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of reading and studying literature.