HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.

The Professor is Charlotte Brontes 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 Brontes 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 Brontes works the author allows herself a freedom of action in love and will that reveals her characters 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 Brontes significant contribution to English literature.