Based on the author's own experiences as a governess in Brussels, Bronte's last novel tells the story of lonely Lucy Snowe, who finds employment at a girls' boarding school in the town of Villette. Finding the students challenging and experiencing the pain of unrequited love for the first time, Lucy becomes increasingly isolated in a world governed by societal expectation and struggles to maintain her integrity in the face of her envious and watchful employer, Madame Beck.