The Victorian Governess: Kathryn HughesThe figure of the governess is very familiar from nineteenth century literature, but much less is known about the governess in reality. This book is the first rounded exploration of what the life of the home schoolroom was actually like. Drawing on original diaries and a variety of previously undiscovered sources, Kathryn Hughes describes why the period 1840 80 was the classic age of governesses, examining their numbers, recruitment, teaching methods,