After graduating school, William Crimsworth decided to become a business man (on a whim) and take a job with his long-lost brother. When that goes south, he ends up teaching at a school in Brussels. There, William runs into some trouble with the headmistress of the girls’ school and falls in love with another teacher, who also happens to take a class from him.

This was a good book. I loved William’s journey and his personality. I loved how he was more than willing to cut himself off from his cousins (and their money) in order to stand up for his parents and be loyal to them. I loved his spontaneity and integrity of just saying something and then moving forward with it because he wasn’t willing to go back on his word. And, I also loved his pride (maybe not the best quality to appreciate), confidence, and independence.

Zoraide Reuter drove me crazy but I also thought she was hilarious—the way she continuously threw herself at men and played everybody against each other was great. I also liked the development we saw in Frances Henri’s personality. But I felt like the romance between her and William was lacking. Especially compared to Jane Eyre, William and Francis just didn’t spend that much time together. It was almost like William just up and decided to like her, and then Francis just went along with it. I was also slightly disturbed by the whole teacher and student thing. Yes, they’re both adults, and I don’t think it was meant to be freaky, but it was almost giving… freaky.

The ending also left something to be desired. It was kind of rushed, even though the last chapter gave a look into their lives 1 year later, 3 years later, and 10 years later. It felt out of place and didn’t really fit with the rest of the book. It made sense when I learned this was the first book that Charlotte Bronte wrote and that it didn’t initially get picked up by publishers—it was only released after she died. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

*Side note: there was a fair amount of dialogue written in French (maybe more than there was in Jane Eyre)… and I didn’t translate it to see what they were saying. Take that as you will in how it relates to my review.