The Professor was Charlotte Bronte's first novel, completed as early as 1846. The central character is the reserved William Crimsworth, an English teacher at an all-girls' school in Brussels who falls in love with one of his own pupils. Based on the author's own experiences as a language student in Belgium, The Professor is the only novel in which Charlotte Bronte chose to use a male narrator. She would later rework the heart-felt story with a woman as the leading character in Villette.