The Professor

This was Charlotte's first proper novel, which she tried to get published but it continually failed to get anyone interested in it. But while she was nursing her father after his cataract operation, she started to write Jane Eyre. She sent that to a publisher, George Smith; his reader was fascinated by the novel and found it impossible to put down. It was published, and was a roaring success. But the Professor never attracted much attention. Charlotte still tried to get it published but she did not succeed. Some years after her death, Arthur Nicholls edited it and managed to get a publisher for it. It is based on her time in Brussels and is written from the point of view of the hero, William Crimsworth. William is an Englishman, whose brother invites him to take a job in his business, starting as a clerk. William dislikes commercial work and he can't stand his brother's wife, so he decides to try his luck abroad and to become a teacher. He has a Yorkshire friend, Yorke Hunsden, who helps him to get a job in Brussels in a boys' school.