A young woman looks back at her childhood in a harsh orphanage and describes her growing love for the man who employs her as governess.

Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, is hired as governess to three young children who have been raised by wolves and must teach them to behave in a civilized manner quickly, in preparation for a Christmas ball.

Fifteen-year-old Miss Penelope Lumley, a governess trained at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, takes the three Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place to London, England, and learns they are under a curse.

A plain, independent-minded governess finds romance and a terrifying secret working at the home of the mysterious Mr. Rochester.

A young woman, uncertain about becoming a nun, becomes governess to seven children of an autocratic ex-naval captain.