Bereft of family and friends, Lucy Snowe flees her empty life in England to seek independence and fulfillment in a wider world. Her gambit takes her to the Belgian town of Villette, where she secures a job teaching English to the fractious girls of Madame Beck's boarding school. Sensitive but resolute, Lucy struggles with feelings of isolation, and she despairs of her relationships with an English doctor and a haughty schoolmaster. Her dilemma—finding a romance that offers both intimacy and freedom—remains as resonant today as it was for Victorian readers.