" This is Charlotte Bronte's first novel - not published until after her death - and it certainly has a lot of the faults of a first novel. The plot moves agonisingly slowly at times. It took quite a few chapters before I felt the story started to unfold and make sense rather than expressing opinions and observations about industrialisation, teaching, the French, the Belgians, Catholics and female students in general through the protagonist. I am sure some of these viewpoints need to be seen in their historical context, yet I still struggled with the blatant disregard for anything not English or Protestant. This was a side to Charlotte Bronte's writing I felt very uncomfortable with and was unfamiliar with from her later novels. However, through the figure of Frances Henri, she begins to establish a very modern female figure for her time - keen to learn and develop and insistent on continuing to work even once happily married - glimpses of characters she created in her later work. I guess the novel could have benefited from some stringent editing in the early chapters and at the end to give it more focus without losing her still beautiful language. Worth a read for anyone who loves Bronte's writing but might put people off as an introduction to her outstanding work. "
— Barbara, 12/20/2013