Synopsis
The Professor was in fact written before Charlotte's first published novel Jane Eyre but was rejected several times and only eventually published two years after her death in 1855. It is inspired in large part by her time spent in Brussels and the main character, William Crimsworth, is belived by many to be based upon Constantin Heger, a teacher at the pensionnat Charlotte studied at.
The Professor is a short novel, quite different in tone and content from Charlotte's other three novels. It tells the story of William Crimsworth through his youth and adulthood, to his eventual career as a professor at an all-girls' school.