The Professor

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. `The Professor` is Charlotte Bronte`s first novel, reflecting her own experience of life in Brussels and published after her untimely death. Viewed as a precursor to the narrative style and characterisation she perfected in her later works, such as `Jane Eyre`, the novel is Bronte`s portrayal of a love story from a male perspective. Writing from the point of view of orphaned young teacher, William Crimsworth - the sole male protagonist among Bronte`s works - the author allows herself a freedom of action in love and will that reveals her character`s loves, desires and ambitions as he forges a new life on his own terms in Brussels. William finds himself caught between the desire he feels for Zoraide Reuter, the beguiling head of the girls` school where he teaches, and the gentle love he feels for one of his pupils, Frances Henri. Exploring questions of love, identity, freedom and independence, `The Professor` is an important work in the small opus that is Charlotte Bronte`s significant contribution to English literature.