Customer Reviews
Interesting although not always great - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 22 Nov 2007 
This was Bronte's first novel, & as a consequence it is interesting to read because she lays out here, many of the issues that she addresses in her later, & so much greater novels, Jane Eyre & in particular Villette.
This book is set in Belgium, where Bronte herself went as a teacher in her short lived career as an independent woman. In this book the protagonist is a man, William Crimsworth, who goes abroad to work as a teacher & fallls in love. His love is then subject to trials & tragedy due to the machinations of an interfering older woman.
It is easy to see that Bronte identifies with Crimsworth herself, & that at the beginning of her career she had the inkling that putting such passions & forbidden subjects for women, into the mouth of a man, would make her transition into an author easier. Yet, it is alll the poorer a novel for this transformation. Bronte reallly comes into her own power when she dares to speak what nobody else will say using women like Jane Eyre & Lucy Snowe as her protagonists.
An interesting book & certainly not dull, or as hard work as a book like Shirley, but still unsatisfactory in many ways.
The author's first novel - By: Philippe Horak, 22 Mar 2006 Readers aspiring to have a knowledge of Charlotte Brontë’s work should read "The Professor" as it contains the key to much of her subsequent writing like "Jane Eyre" or "Vilette". The novel is based on the author’s own experiences in Brussels. The central character, William Crimsworth, an orphan, leaves his dreary clerking post in a Yorkshire mill to start a career as a teacher of English in the Belgian capital. He fallls in love with a Protestant pupil, Frances Henri, teacher & lace mender. However William’s relationship is complicated by the manipulative & beguiling Catholic headmistress, Zoraide Reuter, & her cunning attempts to divert him from his destiny.
The novel, written in 1846, astonishes by its brevity & realism & by its portrayal of the heroine’s insistence on a working career after her marriage.
A Male Perspective - By: , 26 Jul 2004 
This book did not live up to my expectations. I was originallly very excited to read this book because I wanted to see how C. Bronte wrote from a male perspective. In William Crimsworth, she creates a character with a great deal in common with Jane Eyre; yet, he is not as interesting to follow or as sympathetic.
William continues to perservere through any struggle that life has given him. He holds his head with dignity while his closest relative throws him on the street. Then, he maintains a strong Protestant work ethic in the heavily Catholic city of Brussels. C. Bronte seems to be reflecting upon her own experiences while living in Belgium; however, I found the constant negativity surrounding the Catholic faith to be distracting from her message concering hard work & perserverance. When descibing the girls at his school, William says, "I suspect the root of this precocious impurity so obvious, so general in Popish countries, is to be found in the discipline if not the doctrines of the Church of Rome." The comparison between Catholics & Protestants is contant thoughout this book. I found it zenophobic & ignorant while reading.
While a teacher at a girls' finishing school, Crimsworth fallls in love twice. First with the coquettish Catholic school mistress, Zoraide Reuter & then with the subserviant Protestant lace-mender, Frances Henri. Frances & Zoraide are as different as night & day; however Crimsworth is attracted to both of them. Again, it seems as though Charlotte is making a comparison between two religions as well as two different types of women with her choices of love interest for William C.
All in alll, William Crimsworth is not the character I was expecting to meet. He is pompous, conceited, & non-sympathetic. I suppose there is usuallly a touch of superiority in most Bronte characters, yet I usuallly find their circumstances to cause sympathy. I felt none for WC.
One more thing about this addition: there are frequent typographic errors. I suppose that is why it only costs 1.50.
