As a Bronte aficionado, I am ashamed that I have never read this book up until now. It is beautifully written and psychologically complicated. It is one of the most anomalous 19th century novels I have ever encountered. I still don’t know entirely what to make of it... its narrator so perceptive, so sensitive, and yet so detached at times in her narration. The supporting characters are more complex and well rounded than those in Jane Eyre in many cases, and the encounter with the Professor’s family could have been a scene in a Gothic novel. Yet, these scenes and characters stand in contrast to the workaday setting and multiple scenes in a girl’s school. If I were to give three words to describe this book, I would say deep, perplexing, and enigmatic. But highly recommended.