YouTube has become quite a close friend of mine as of late. I use Spotify mainly for music purposes, but the platform does offer, depending on what plan you opt for, an allotted amount of audiobook hours every month. I’m quite pleased with the audiobook options that are available to listen to via Spotify, but because of the listening limit, I would prefer to check and, furthermore, use YouTube for whatever specific book it is I’m trying to find. More often than not, I’ve been able to find the audiobook I’m looking for on YouTube, and, with my interest in reading literary classics, YouTube has proven to be extremely useful.
When I finished Little Women, which I used YouTube for, one of the next recommended titles was Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë. I had no clue what it was about, but I figured it would work and decided to give it a listen.
The following is a description of the book from goodreads.com:
“When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey determines to find work as a governess in order to contribute to their meagre income and assert her independence. But Agnes’s enthusiasm is swiftly extinguished as she struggles first with the unmanageable Bloomfield children and then with the painful disdain of the haughty Murray family; the only kindness she receives comes from Mr Weston, the sober young curate. Drawing on her own experience, Anne Brontë’s first novel offers a compelling personal perspective on the desperate position of unmarried, educated women for whom becoming a governess was the only respectable career open in Victorian society.”
I am enjoying the book, although it does start off a bit slowly, and the writing is eloquent and quite appreciated. Agnes’ character is dynamic, sweet and intriguing, and like the Goodreads description states, this text emphasizes what life was like for women in this era who didn’t hail from tremendous money or status. Agnes Grey is a read.
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
