Charlotte Brontë's first novel was rejected by publisher after publisher and appeared only after her death — yet it holds a plain, cold clarity she never allowed herself again. An orphaned young Englishman spurns his uncles' patronage, takes a clerkship in Brussels, and teaches at a girls' school whose formidable directress has quietly resolved to marry him. Drawn from the same Brussels experience that later fed Villette, this is Brontë at her most austere. This edition presents the complete and unabridged novel, newly typeset and illustrated with 49 full-page color plates.