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The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy
Published in 1749, the story of Mrs. Teachum and the nine pupils who make up her “little female academy” is widely recognized as the first full-length novel for children, and the first to be aimed specifically at girls. The daily experiences of Mrs. Teachum’s charges are interwoven with fables and fairy tales illustrating the book’s underlying principles, which draw on contemporary theories of education and virtue. As central to the history of the novel as it is to the development of children’s literature, The Governess is a pioneering work by one of the eighteenth century's most respected women writers. This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction that places The Governess in its cultural and literary context; appendices include examples of eighteenth-century educational literature and selections from Fielding’s correspondence.
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1749
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232 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Fielding
98 books4 followersSarah Fielding was a British author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding. She was the author of The Governess, or The Little Female Academy (1749), which was the first novel in English written especially for children (children's literature), and had earlier achieved success with her novel The Adventures of David Simple (1744).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
May 23, 2020
This book was insufferable but interesting. It was the first full-length novel for children and the first specifically for girls and, on learning this, and especially because it was written by a woman, I thought it would be a fascinating and empowering read. It is so difficult to read, however, because the tone is so different to what I am used to. From the first page the writer clarifies that she thinks that the point of reading is to extract morals from within. The novel takes place over ten days and mainly takes the format of several fables told from various girls as well as their personal life stories, and in each, the lesson is made abundantly clear, before then being restated by the main teacher. The tone was overwhelmingly patronising and the girls, with their noble one-dimensional goodness, were completely unlikable. Whilst unenjoyable to read, the novel offers up interesting points about the role of the female child, their education in the past and the role of women generally not that it really makes the experience worthwhile.
May 27, 2020
Oxford University Press edition, edited by Jill E. Grey.
Widely considered the first children's novel to be published in the Anglophone world, Sarah Fielding's The Governess was a groundbreaking book in many respects, focusing on what was then a new development: i.e., a school for girls. Published in 1749, it was an assigned text in a course I took while getting my masters in children's literature, and it made such an impression upon me that I decided to write a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. The first edition of the book that I read, for class, was the one produced by Broadview Press in 2005, edited by Candace Ward. When I went to reread the book, preparatory to beginning my research, I reread it using this edition, published by Oxford University Press in 1968, and edited by Jill E. Grey. I chose this alternative and older edition specifically for Grey's introduction. For a further analysis of the story itself, see my review of the Ward edition. This review will focus on Grey's introduction, a significant eighty-two pages.
The introduction is divided into seven sections, beginning with one examining Fielding's life, from her early days (she was born in 1710) through the publication of The Governess in 1749. It is fascinating to note that Fielding was sent to a girls' boarding school, and at one point studied Classical Greek - both very unusual for girls of her day - which no doubt influenced her subsequent work. It is believed that she began writing The Governess in part for her niece Harriet, the motherless daughter of her brother, famed novelist and playwright Henry Fielding. The second section here looks at Fielding's life from 1749 through her death in 1768, and the third at the influences upon The Governess. Chief among these was her brother; the novelist Samuel Richardson, a personal friend of Fielding's (and a rival of said brother); and the wealth of stories found in classical epics, medieval romances, and eastern tales. In her work, Fielding adapted the educational ideas of John Locke for use with girl pupils, and also adopted some of the methodology recommended by François Fénelon in his Instructions for the Education of a Daughter, first published in Paris in 1687, and translated into English in 1707. Subsequent sections are devoted to Sarah Fielding's views on education, the history of the publication of The Governess, and the influence of the novel on subsequent children's book creators. Here we find authors and titles such as Mme Le Prince de Beaumont ( The Young Misses Magazine and The Young Ladies Magazine ), the pioneering publisher John Newbery ( The History of Little Goody Two Shoes ), Richard Johnson ( The Little Female Orators ), among many others. The seventh and final section of the introduction is devoted to the significance of The Governess, and goes into detail in its analysis of the many groundbreaking and influential aspects of the work, when it came to the development of children's literature in general.
As the foregoing should make plain, Jill E. Grey's sizable introduction here is most informative and illuminating, and well worth the trouble of seeking it out. It certainly aided me in my own research, providing a wealth of ideas for further reading, and is an excellent piece of scholarship, in its own right. I enjoyed rereading The Governess of course, but I found that this time around, armed with the additional information provided by Grey, I had a better understanding of the work, in its context. This 1968 publication from Oxford University Press is part of their "Juvenile Library" series, and so favorably impressed me that I would love to discover any other early children's literature gems included in the collection. Recommended to anyone interested in reading The Governess, and to those who have already read the work, and are seeking more information about it.
Widely considered the first children's novel to be published in the Anglophone world, Sarah Fielding's The Governess was a groundbreaking book in many respects, focusing on what was then a new development: i.e., a school for girls. Published in 1749, it was an assigned text in a course I took while getting my masters in children's literature, and it made such an impression upon me that I decided to write a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. The first edition of the book that I read, for class, was the one produced by Broadview Press in 2005, edited by Candace Ward. When I went to reread the book, preparatory to beginning my research, I reread it using this edition, published by Oxford University Press in 1968, and edited by Jill E. Grey. I chose this alternative and older edition specifically for Grey's introduction. For a further analysis of the story itself, see my review of the Ward edition. This review will focus on Grey's introduction, a significant eighty-two pages.
The introduction is divided into seven sections, beginning with one examining Fielding's life, from her early days (she was born in 1710) through the publication of The Governess in 1749. It is fascinating to note that Fielding was sent to a girls' boarding school, and at one point studied Classical Greek - both very unusual for girls of her day - which no doubt influenced her subsequent work. It is believed that she began writing The Governess in part for her niece Harriet, the motherless daughter of her brother, famed novelist and playwright Henry Fielding. The second section here looks at Fielding's life from 1749 through her death in 1768, and the third at the influences upon The Governess. Chief among these was her brother; the novelist Samuel Richardson, a personal friend of Fielding's (and a rival of said brother); and the wealth of stories found in classical epics, medieval romances, and eastern tales. In her work, Fielding adapted the educational ideas of John Locke for use with girl pupils, and also adopted some of the methodology recommended by François Fénelon in his Instructions for the Education of a Daughter, first published in Paris in 1687, and translated into English in 1707. Subsequent sections are devoted to Sarah Fielding's views on education, the history of the publication of The Governess, and the influence of the novel on subsequent children's book creators. Here we find authors and titles such as Mme Le Prince de Beaumont ( The Young Misses Magazine and The Young Ladies Magazine ), the pioneering publisher John Newbery ( The History of Little Goody Two Shoes ), Richard Johnson ( The Little Female Orators ), among many others. The seventh and final section of the introduction is devoted to the significance of The Governess, and goes into detail in its analysis of the many groundbreaking and influential aspects of the work, when it came to the development of children's literature in general.
As the foregoing should make plain, Jill E. Grey's sizable introduction here is most informative and illuminating, and well worth the trouble of seeking it out. It certainly aided me in my own research, providing a wealth of ideas for further reading, and is an excellent piece of scholarship, in its own right. I enjoyed rereading The Governess of course, but I found that this time around, armed with the additional information provided by Grey, I had a better understanding of the work, in its context. This 1968 publication from Oxford University Press is part of their "Juvenile Library" series, and so favorably impressed me that I would love to discover any other early children's literature gems included in the collection. Recommended to anyone interested in reading The Governess, and to those who have already read the work, and are seeking more information about it.
Want to read
January 21, 2010Sarah, younger sister of Henry Fielding, wrote the first English novel intended explicitly for children. She and Henry lived together and made their living writing until he married and resumed practicing law to provide for his children. There is some thought that the siblings may have sometimes written bits of one another's books. She was also a biographer, critic, and translator.
May 27, 2020
Broadview Press edition, edited by Candace Ward.
First published in 1749, Sarah Fielding's The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy is not, as some other reviewers have claimed, the first children's book to be published in English (far from it!), but it is widely regarded as the first children's novel to appear in that language. Written by Sarah Fielding, the sister of 18th-century literary giant Henry Fielding, it is the story of a group of girls at a school in the north of England, run by one Mrs. Teachum. When the pupils become involved in a school brawl over who has the right to the largest apple (ah, the way of temptation!), Miss Jenny Peace, at fourteen years old the eldest girl, and Mrs. Teachum's factotum, steps in and fulfills the promise of her name. Using a dialogue with twelve-year-old Miss Sukey Jennet, Jenny brings all of the nine girls around, and they settle down to a discussion in the garden. Over the next nine days they engage in morally uplifting conversation, reading various fables and stories, and relating incidents from their own young lives which tally with the messages and themes of those readings. Jenny reports on their progress to her teacher, who is pleased by these new developments. In the end, Miss Peace is called home by her aunt, but her example remains, and continues to be used to reform and instruct newer girls...
Although long aware of The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy - I first saw it referenced in Sue Sims and Hilary Clare's The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories - I didn't pick it up until it was an assigned text in one of the courses for my masters program in children's literature. Unlike some other reviewers, I was not put off by its didactic moralizing - one comes to expect this from books of the period, and many that followed it - but rather, fascinated by its depiction of what was then still a new development: a school for girls. Whatever one thinks of the actual messages about girlhood behavior the author seeks to impart - and they are certainly open to criticism - there can be no denying that, by setting her story in a "female academy," and depicting the possibility of young girls changing for the better, as a result of education - the possibility that girls could be educated at all - Sarah Fielding was doing something very progressive and ground-breaking for her day. The form that the author uses to do this - the use of inset stories, moral dialogues between the characters, even the use of aptronyms in naming them - may feel awkward and foreign to the contemporary reader, but then, these are common characteristics of 18th-century literature in general, and can make that literature something of an acquired taste, I find. From the apple-driven brawl at the beginning - a clear reference to the biblical story of Eve, often used to denigrate women in western cultures - to the departure of Jenny Peace at the end - suggesting subsequent Victorian ideas about the reforming angel - this is a book that in some ways looks both forward and backward in its themes. Perhaps it was this that led me to work on a paper about the influence of The Governess on subsequent girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825, a most pleasurable and enlightening project.
Highly recommended, to anyone interested in the evolution of children's literature, and particularly, the children's novel, in English. Given its pioneer status, I find it most amusing that the genre to which it belongs - the girls' school story - was until very recently dismissed as trivial by many in the field of children's literature studies. Although I ended up reading many different editions of the book, for my research, the one I started with was this, edited by Candace Ward, and published by Broadview Press (who also published the edition of another 18th-century children's classic I read, The History of Sandford and Merton ), in 2005.
First published in 1749, Sarah Fielding's The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy is not, as some other reviewers have claimed, the first children's book to be published in English (far from it!), but it is widely regarded as the first children's novel to appear in that language. Written by Sarah Fielding, the sister of 18th-century literary giant Henry Fielding, it is the story of a group of girls at a school in the north of England, run by one Mrs. Teachum. When the pupils become involved in a school brawl over who has the right to the largest apple (ah, the way of temptation!), Miss Jenny Peace, at fourteen years old the eldest girl, and Mrs. Teachum's factotum, steps in and fulfills the promise of her name. Using a dialogue with twelve-year-old Miss Sukey Jennet, Jenny brings all of the nine girls around, and they settle down to a discussion in the garden. Over the next nine days they engage in morally uplifting conversation, reading various fables and stories, and relating incidents from their own young lives which tally with the messages and themes of those readings. Jenny reports on their progress to her teacher, who is pleased by these new developments. In the end, Miss Peace is called home by her aunt, but her example remains, and continues to be used to reform and instruct newer girls...
Although long aware of The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy - I first saw it referenced in Sue Sims and Hilary Clare's The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories - I didn't pick it up until it was an assigned text in one of the courses for my masters program in children's literature. Unlike some other reviewers, I was not put off by its didactic moralizing - one comes to expect this from books of the period, and many that followed it - but rather, fascinated by its depiction of what was then still a new development: a school for girls. Whatever one thinks of the actual messages about girlhood behavior the author seeks to impart - and they are certainly open to criticism - there can be no denying that, by setting her story in a "female academy," and depicting the possibility of young girls changing for the better, as a result of education - the possibility that girls could be educated at all - Sarah Fielding was doing something very progressive and ground-breaking for her day. The form that the author uses to do this - the use of inset stories, moral dialogues between the characters, even the use of aptronyms in naming them - may feel awkward and foreign to the contemporary reader, but then, these are common characteristics of 18th-century literature in general, and can make that literature something of an acquired taste, I find. From the apple-driven brawl at the beginning - a clear reference to the biblical story of Eve, often used to denigrate women in western cultures - to the departure of Jenny Peace at the end - suggesting subsequent Victorian ideas about the reforming angel - this is a book that in some ways looks both forward and backward in its themes. Perhaps it was this that led me to work on a paper about the influence of The Governess on subsequent girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825, a most pleasurable and enlightening project.
Highly recommended, to anyone interested in the evolution of children's literature, and particularly, the children's novel, in English. Given its pioneer status, I find it most amusing that the genre to which it belongs - the girls' school story - was until very recently dismissed as trivial by many in the field of children's literature studies. Although I ended up reading many different editions of the book, for my research, the one I started with was this, edited by Candace Ward, and published by Broadview Press (who also published the edition of another 18th-century children's classic I read, The History of Sandford and Merton ), in 2005.
September 5, 2011
I was unsure whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars as the characters were very well developed even though we had little information about them it gave you a sense of caring for the characters.
The story was made up of stories of nine children in which Fielding incorporated all their misgivings to establish a enviroment in which to teach the reader (namely children) morals and ideals of their attitudes in the world and what would make them happy. Fielding provides the enviroment of a school and as it is deemed as the first novel for children we can see that over history not much has changed with sucessful children's novels like Harry Potter still exist today.
This novel was a great start to the children's fictin course that I'm doing and really helped me understand the writers intention for children's fiction and the reasons for setting.
(I did have a much longer review and the page crashed and deleted it! So this is from painful memories and it is never as good as the first time it was written!)
The story was made up of stories of nine children in which Fielding incorporated all their misgivings to establish a enviroment in which to teach the reader (namely children) morals and ideals of their attitudes in the world and what would make them happy. Fielding provides the enviroment of a school and as it is deemed as the first novel for children we can see that over history not much has changed with sucessful children's novels like Harry Potter still exist today.
This novel was a great start to the children's fictin course that I'm doing and really helped me understand the writers intention for children's fiction and the reasons for setting.
(I did have a much longer review and the page crashed and deleted it! So this is from painful memories and it is never as good as the first time it was written!)
January 11, 2012
I had to read this for my eighteenth century lit class last semester. This book is considered one of the first novels written specifically for children, and it is fascinating in how different it is from the children's books we read today. It is incredibly didactic, but quite entertaining in its own right. The book reflects many of Locke's viewpoints on the education of children.
May 30, 2020
Pandora Press edition, with introduction by Mary Cadogan.
One of the most influential children's books of the 18th-century, and widely considered the first English novel written explicitly for children, Sarah Fielding's 1749 The Governess; or, Little Female Academy was one of the assigned texts in the class on early children's literature that I took, during the course of getting my masters degree. I read the 2005 Broadview Press edition, edited by Candace Ward, for class. So struck was I by the book, that I ended up writing a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. To commence my research for that paper, I read the 1968 Oxford University Press edition, with its marvelous introduction by Jill E. Grey. I have reviewed both of those editions separately. This review is for the Pandora Press edition of 1987, with introduction by Mary Cadogan.
I undertook this third reread at the end of my research for the aforementioned paper, in order to see what new insights I might gain, in light of having read numerous other subsequent works in the field. It reinforced my idea that concern with girls' reading habits was a theme throughout all of the books, and that they all exhibited the tension between controlling and liberatory forces that was the subject of my paper. I chose this particular edition because I wanted to read the introduction by Cadogan, who is known for her work on 19th and 20th-century girls' school stories, and is the author of such books as You're a Brick, Angela!: The Girls' Story 1839-1985 . I found her insights helpful, and appreciated her understanding of the book's pioneering role, despite its 'demure' title and "occasionally over-sedate text." Given the scorn heaped on the girls' school story until very recently by both the general public and by children's literature scholars, it's interesting to note that the first novel written for children belonged to this genre, and that the first boys' school story, according to Cadogan, did not surface until some sixty years later, in the form of Harriet Martineau's The Crofton Boys . Having not researched the boys' school story as carefully as the girls', I could not say with certainty that this title is indeed the first boys' school story, but Cadogan's point about the greater antiquity and influence of the girls' school story nevertheless stands.
I appreciated Cadogan's argument here that the girls' school story in general is one of the few areas of English literature, of any kind, to celebrate female friendship, and that Fielding began the trend with her book. It was written at a time when books for girls were rare, and features a role model, in the form of Mrs. Teachum, who is a symbol of female self-sufficiency. As Cadogan notes, Fielding influenced many subsequent authors, including Sarah Trimmer, Mary Martha Sherwood, Maria Edgeworth, the Lamb siblings, and Charlotte M. Yonge. Although I don't know that the introduction here was an informative, or as helpful to my own research, as the one by Jill E. Grey, it was still quite fascinating, particularly as someone who is interested in later examples of the school story genre, in addition to late 18th and early 19th-century ones. I don't know that I'd particularly recommend this edition over the others, but I am certainly glad to have read it.
One of the most influential children's books of the 18th-century, and widely considered the first English novel written explicitly for children, Sarah Fielding's 1749 The Governess; or, Little Female Academy was one of the assigned texts in the class on early children's literature that I took, during the course of getting my masters degree. I read the 2005 Broadview Press edition, edited by Candace Ward, for class. So struck was I by the book, that I ended up writing a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. To commence my research for that paper, I read the 1968 Oxford University Press edition, with its marvelous introduction by Jill E. Grey. I have reviewed both of those editions separately. This review is for the Pandora Press edition of 1987, with introduction by Mary Cadogan.
I undertook this third reread at the end of my research for the aforementioned paper, in order to see what new insights I might gain, in light of having read numerous other subsequent works in the field. It reinforced my idea that concern with girls' reading habits was a theme throughout all of the books, and that they all exhibited the tension between controlling and liberatory forces that was the subject of my paper. I chose this particular edition because I wanted to read the introduction by Cadogan, who is known for her work on 19th and 20th-century girls' school stories, and is the author of such books as You're a Brick, Angela!: The Girls' Story 1839-1985 . I found her insights helpful, and appreciated her understanding of the book's pioneering role, despite its 'demure' title and "occasionally over-sedate text." Given the scorn heaped on the girls' school story until very recently by both the general public and by children's literature scholars, it's interesting to note that the first novel written for children belonged to this genre, and that the first boys' school story, according to Cadogan, did not surface until some sixty years later, in the form of Harriet Martineau's The Crofton Boys . Having not researched the boys' school story as carefully as the girls', I could not say with certainty that this title is indeed the first boys' school story, but Cadogan's point about the greater antiquity and influence of the girls' school story nevertheless stands.
I appreciated Cadogan's argument here that the girls' school story in general is one of the few areas of English literature, of any kind, to celebrate female friendship, and that Fielding began the trend with her book. It was written at a time when books for girls were rare, and features a role model, in the form of Mrs. Teachum, who is a symbol of female self-sufficiency. As Cadogan notes, Fielding influenced many subsequent authors, including Sarah Trimmer, Mary Martha Sherwood, Maria Edgeworth, the Lamb siblings, and Charlotte M. Yonge. Although I don't know that the introduction here was an informative, or as helpful to my own research, as the one by Jill E. Grey, it was still quite fascinating, particularly as someone who is interested in later examples of the school story genre, in addition to late 18th and early 19th-century ones. I don't know that I'd particularly recommend this edition over the others, but I am certainly glad to have read it.
October 31, 2023
Yeah this was boring and not good. I can’t imagine any child would talk the way these girls do. Still might write my essay on it tho
February 26, 2016
Like a combination of Canterbury Tales and A Little Princess, but boring. I would have rather just had the stories without the unnecessary framing device to make sure the readers understand the subtext. Especially disappointed considering the book started with a fist fight.
May 31, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed this book but am used to reading novels from the late 1800s and early 1900s. I imagine it would be far too overtly moralistic for the average twenty-first century reader. Although this is a children's book, I would not recommend it for children today.
January 1, 2020
Published in 1749, many consider The Governess to be the first English novel written for children (and the first for girls in particular!). It's an interesting read in the context of the history of children's literature and education, with its clear Enlightenment ideals. A subtly-named governess, Mrs Teachum, and her young pupil Jenny Peace, teach a group of girls through fairytales, moral lessons and life stories (aided by the frequent consumption of fresh strawberries and cream).
Available to read for free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1905/...
Available to read for free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1905/...
January 21, 2023
This is a book written to teach children about morals and how to act in a ‘proper’ manner. Personally I found it quite bland and hard to get through even the fairy tale stories of giants, fairies, and princesses didn’t enthral me.
September 18, 2022
I like the reviewer that described this book as "insufferable but interesting". I definitely concur. This is a very early childrens' novel (1749), and I read it just for that.
August 3, 2018
I didn’t like it, I found it flat and boring. It’s classed as a children’s book from the past, so it’s very different to the books made for children now. But it does have morals for the story.
But the characters were well developed, there wasn’t too much detail about each one but you can tell their reasonings for their actions.
I’m not likely to pick this up ever again and this is one I had to due to it being on my children’s lit reading list.
That’s all lovelies!
But the characters were well developed, there wasn’t too much detail about each one but you can tell their reasonings for their actions.
I’m not likely to pick this up ever again and this is one I had to due to it being on my children’s lit reading list.
That’s all lovelies!
October 5, 2013
It was neither here nor there, a charming morality tale. Obviously heavy-handed; what else would you expect of a novel that was meant to instruct its readers? For all that, it's cute enough to be worth a browse.
February 7, 2014
Still very moralistic in tone, the Governess does manage to tell the realistic story of a group of young girls, each with their own faults, trying to be better. The fairytales that are used to instruct them were quite interesting from a gender point of view, as well as simply quite entertaining.
March 26, 2016
An interesting look at what was thought to be suitable literature for children in the 18th century. More moralistic than entertaining, this is more of a lesson in historical gender ideals than book for entertainment.
October 7, 2017
this wasn't a very good book and i didn't enjoy it at all! it's pretty cool that it was the first ever book written for children but i'm glad children's books and school stories have come a long way since then.
September 17, 2007
Originally published in 1749.
Read
November 17, 2007This book, in all its 130-page glory, is pure torture. I can't force myself to finish it. I'm a disgrace.
November 9, 2015
Very moral based and at times hard to read but once you get past that it's actually a decent book.
March 26, 2018
I can see myself really enjoying this book as a child. As an adult, not so great and probably two stars but seeing as how it's meant for children...
September 18, 2018
. . . we must, if we would be happy, do always what is right, and trust for the Consequences. ~ Sarah Fielding
November 6, 2024
This was a very different read! Having read this for a Children's Literature course, it was fascinating to see how this was one of the first novels with children as the intended audience and how the society in which the book was written impacted its messaging. While nonentheless vastly different from what we would consider to be "children's literature" today, The Governess gives good insight to the developed thinking of how to tell stories to children in ways that they understand.
February 5, 2025
I read this for my children’s literature class. As a future educator, I find this book honestly very interesting. It provides a unique (also very troubling) perspective about the past and what expectations there was for young girls back in the 18th century. Sarah Fielding was both pointing out inconsistencies while remaining within reason for this time.
July 31, 2024
very interesting book for what it is (the author and when it was written and how, and how it does what it wants to do) but a bit boring as a passtime read
quite well written, the prose is extremely rich and flows very well. this happens in all books of the time that i've read
quite well written, the prose is extremely rich and flows very well. this happens in all books of the time that i've read
April 12, 2021
Imagine having nothing but this and the Bible to read. Absolutely excruciating.
Read
August 26, 2021Fundamental to the school stories genre.
January 23, 2022
I found this book to be neither here nor there. It's interesting to read as an example of early children's literature but otherwise isn't particularly riveting.
February 2, 2022
I am so glad the children's literature I grew up with had evolved so much past this
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews