Reprint of the original, first published in 1872.

The figure of the governess is very familiar from nineteenth-century literature. 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. She examines their numbers, recruitment, teaching methods, social position and prospects. The governess provides a key to the central Victorian concept of the lady. Her education consisted of a series of accomplishments designed to attract a husband able to keep her in the style to which she had become accustomed from birth. Becoming a governess was the only acceptable way of earning money open to a lady whose family could not support her in leisure. Being paid to educate another woman's children set in play a series of social and emotional tensions. The governess was a surrogate mother, who was herself childless, a young woman whose marriage prospects were restricted, and a family member who was sometimes mistaken for a servant.

In this historical romance, a young woman embarks on a journey of discovery and desire when she accepts a job in the home of a handsome sheikh. Rachel Talbot has always dreamed of venturing to faraway lands. So when she’s offered a job as governess to the Sheikh of Huria’s children, it seems as if her dreams are finally coming true. But she is about to encounter a reality unlike anything she could have imagined . . . After arriving in Huria, Rachel discovers how infuriating Sheikh Malik can be! Yes, he’s the most handsome man she’s has ever seen, but he’s also autocratic and aloof. Until, that is, a night under the starry desert sky leads to a passionate kiss . . . And suddenly a whole new world of possibilities opens up to this intrepid governess!

When an undercover Lord meets an heiress in hiding, their forbidden affair might just make a perfect match in this sexy Regency romance. Hiding from society, heiress Eleanor Hancourt must live as ordinary governess Nell Court to escape her family’s scandals. But when the new estate manager arrives, her quiet existence is disrupted. He may be unspeakably arrogant, but he’s also irresistible! Fergus is really the Earl of Barberry, undercover to investigate his own estate. Instead, he discovers the new governess is an illicit temptation, a match that can never be! Yet when Nell’s secret inheritance puts her in peril, Fergus will do whatever it takes to save her . . .