Charlotte Brontë
The Professor
Interesting tale of an English teacher in Brussels written from his narrative. It seems very moralistic whilst putting forward incredibly unflattering caricatures of various nationalities, including the English, which makes it altogether confusing. The fact that it was written before Charlotte was "outed" as a woman and written originally (although not published?) under her male nom de plume makes it even more interesting, or strange. Spoiler... The characters are not particularly likeable in fact the one that is most obnoxious turns out to be the most likeable in my view. The story is fairly mundane and whilst anticipating a wholly predictable sting in the tail there isn't one which is just as bad as having the predictable one. The ending is strange in being about to submit the son to a life of misery at Eton to toughen him up in readiness for life in a world where everyone is out for themselves. That includes the narrator and his wife who are introduced as likeable, albeit with personality defects, but whose romance seems to be less romantic and more convenient. As ever, it's difficult to judge a book from today's society's context and to give that context there is an interesting introduction which gives certain aspects of the story more analysis than I had and how it relates to both the author, her life and society at that time. Interesting but by no means a classic. Although apparently the author was adamant as to it's value and that it should be published the shame being that it only was after her death.
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