The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Including Introductory Essays by Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë and Clement K. Shorter

By Anne Brontë

“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” a novel by English author Anne Brontë. Her second and last novel, it is presented in the form of a series of letters from one Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about how he met his wife. An enigmatic young widow arrives at the uninhabited Elizabethan mansion called Wildfell Hall. After taking up residence there in a hermit-like manner, she becomes the victim of terrible slander. She is befriended by a local man who is sceptical of the local and who gradually comes to learn of her tragic past. Among the most disturbing and shocking of the novels published by the Brontës family, it enjoyed incredible success—despite her sister Charlotte's preventing its re-publication after her death. “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” constitutes a must-read for lovers of classic English literature and it is not to be missed by those who have read and enjoyed other works by the Brontë sisters. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read & Co. Classics
• Release date: Nov 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781528782036

Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë (1820 –1849) was an English novelist and poet and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne wrote a poetry and two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered one of the first feminist novels. Her works have become classics of English literature.

Reviews for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Helen Graham rents the small cottage Wildfell Hall and move in there with her little son and the faithful maid-servant.. People in the small village are curious. Who is she? What is her background. She’s evidently a widow - but not very eager to share about her life. And of course all kinds of rumors starts going around in the nosy little community.The young farmer Gilberg Markham falls in love with her - and starts to win her confidence. She will reveal her past to him in a long diary that takes up most part of the novel. She is in fact married to Arthur Huntingdon - a very mean and vile kind of husband and father. It is at times painful reading, and no surprise the public was chocked at the detailed glimpse into this bleak portrayal of marital tragedy - which includes the detrimental effects of alcohol, adultury and bad friends.I liked this second reading even better than the first. Also I would recommend the BBC tv-series adaptation from 1996 with Tara Fitzgerald as Helen Graham.

[etxgardener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've never read anything by Anne Bronte, and was surprised at how bold and modern in its views of women' rights are for a book that was published in 1848. The book is told through a series of letters between Gilbert Markham to his brother-in-law about the events surrounding the meeting of his wife.Helen Graham and her young son and servant arrive at Wildfell Hall, which has been vacant for many years where she lives in seclusion. Because of her secrecy she becomes the subject of local malicious gosip. Gilbert, however, refuses to believe any of the stories about her. Her befriends her and soon discovers her true story. Helen, who is from an upper class family has left her abusive, alcoholic husband hoping to save her son from his unhealthy influence. The depiction of her dissolute husband, her marital strife and her argument fof women's independence are extremely advanced for Victorian England and reflect the author's belief in both women's rights and universal salvation. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is now considered to be one of the first feminist novels published.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, first published in 1848, is considered the most scandalous of the Brontë sisters' novels, dealing as it does with themes of domestic abuse, gross marital infidelity, alcoholism, and a woman's blatant defiance of her husband in the face of the most painful betrayal. Please be aware that this review will contain spoilers. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall tells the story of a young woman, Helen, who marries thinking she can mold her husband into a better man. With a setup like that, it is necessarily tragic and admonitory toward others who may be of the same mind. Arthur Huntingdon, while never quite a monster, is a wholly selfish being who quickly lapses into alcoholism and extramarital affairs when his fascination with Helen ceases. Helen, who really does love him, is slowly stretched out on a rack of emotional and spiritual agony that intensifies as their marriage progresses. When Arthur thoughtlessly starts corrupting their young son, Helen knows they must escape for the boy's sake. But at that time a woman had no legal right to seek divorce, no matter what the provocation, and to run away from one's husband was almost unheard of. Many readers hail Helen as an early example of feminism, pushing back against male tyranny and abuse. The novel is partly epistolary and partly excerpts of Helen's diary, and the epistolary parts are narrated by Gilbert Markham, a young farmer in the district to which Helen flees. Writing his tale for a curious friend, Gilbert chronicles his introduction to Helen and their slowly blossoming friendship and eventual love, hampered always by secrets from her past. It's striking that Gilbert is far from a heroic figure, even with Arthur Huntingdon and Walter Hargrave as foils. Gilbert can be petty and vindictive, even unreasonably violent toward another man. Though I was glad that he and Helen do end up getting married, I did wonder a little if he really deserved her. I closed the book thinking perhaps he would grow in the right direction under Helen's influence—which is ironic, really, given the premise of the novel that women cannot reform the men they marry. What makes Gilbert more sincere than Arthur in his admiration of Helen's character and determination to win her? I guess it comes down to which character we trust. There are no perfect or saintlike characters in this story, although Helen is probably the closest we come to that type. Though she patiently endures unspeakable anguish at the hands of her husband, she is far from perfect and her diary at times betrays her active hatred toward the man who has made her life so miserable. If it didn't, she'd probably come across as quite insufferable! She's foolish and naive in the beginning, thinking that she can influence and shape Arthur so decidedly, but she atones for her wilfulness with fortitude. Indeed, she relies on God for her strength, expressing trust and faith in the moments of her deepest distress. And yet... and yet, as a reader I couldn't warm to her. There is an indefinable something about her that repulses both pity and personal attraction. I can't quite put my finger on it. Motherhood is a profound motive in this story, as Helen's primary impetus to escape her husband is her son, whom Arthur is teaching to tipple and curse with the rest of his unsavory circle. Helen cannot bear to see her son becoming like his father, and this provides her with an unselfish motive for leaving. The implication is that she would have stayed and endured indefinitely were it not for her little boy. Little Arthur is the extenuating circumstance that justifies her flight.An interesting (though mostly left resting) thread in the novel is Helen's (and Anne Brontë's) belief in universal salvation; that is, the belief that all souls will eventually be saved, though they must endure the purifying fires of Hell first. A young and inexperienced Helen argues vehemently for this doctrine and calls it a "beautiful thought," but I find it telling that the idea is not alluded to again during the terrible years of her ever-worsening marriage. Though a fairly strong novel in its own right, Wildfell probably would not be much read today were it not for its more famous sister-novels Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It explores many of the same themes—domestic abuse, the dangerous charm of a handsome man, infidelity, scandal, and the particularly intense family drama unique to the Brontës—but somehow there is less to hold onto in this story than there is in the other two (especially Jane Eyre). Jane Eyre's characters are wholly sympathetic and Wuthering Heights's characters are wholly unsympathetic; at least you know where you are with them. Wildfell's characters are neither, somehow, and this tension leaves me rather confused. I read voraciously and felt, I suppose, the emotions appropriate at each new turn, but I don't see myself revisiting this story, technically competent though it may be.

[hes7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this feminist classic about a mysterious stranger, who proves her strength by dealing with local gossip and revealing the secrets of her past. It might even be a new favorite.

[vinjii-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sadly, me and Anne did not click as much as I hoped we would. I admire Anne for tackling such an important topic at that time, and if I were only judging the social commentary it would definitely be a five stars. However, the story dragged for me, especially the middle. If you're a fan of the Brontë sisters, definitely do not miss out on Anne. It's quite impressive how far ahead of her time she was.

[chrisblocker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many contemporaries of the Brontë sisters believed the three sisters, writing under under male pseudonyms, were actually one man—an impressive feat considering Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, and Jane Eyre were all published within a two-month period. Yet it's not all that surprising readers were thrown off. I myself, knowing better, cannot help but think of “the Brontës” as one collective mind. Their shared history and passions, their simultaneous storming of the publishing world, their unfortunate life stories—these parallels have created three very similar writers. With Emily's singular work teetering on the romantic end of the spectrum, Anne's realist novels on the other, and Charlotte falling somewhere in between the two, the Brontë sisters seemed more like a single author dabbling in slightly different styles than three unique individuals.When I began reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I was hopeful that the youngest Brontë would avoid that signature Brontë quality of losing the story. Wuthering Heights was wonderful, and “the next generation” was necessary to see the passion and the loss of reality for Heathcliff, but the story dragged in these years. Jane Eyre, likewise, was wonderful, but Jane's time with St. John and sisters, while necessary to create some distance between the protagonist and Rochester, was largely uneventful. The Tenant... seemed likely to avoid this initially, as it began in just the right place and seemed to be moving at a steady pace; then it descended into a massive diversion that was, for the most part, unnecessary; sure it helped me to better understand the desperate situation Helen was in, but it went on for far too long and, once again, distracted me from the story I wanted. It didn't help that this flashback was largely hearsay within quotes within a journal within a letter within a novel. At this point, it may sound like I didn't like this novel; far from it, I love everything EmiCharlAnn Brontë wrote, but I do find it a bit bothersome that the one thing that keeps me from adoring these novels is that the author chooses to include one very lengthy section (by lengthy, I mean one-fourth to one-half of the novel) that I believe could've been seriously reduced. It's unfortunate, but not damning by any means.Though probably the least memorable of the Brontë novels I've read thus far, The Tenant... stands on equal ground with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. This was the most realistic of the three, and certainly controversial for the time. This has to be one of the earliest examples of feminist literature that exists today. The fact that Charlotte pulled the novel from publication immediately after Anne's death gives some indication for the sentiments of the time, and also why Anne was the least famed of the sisters. It was a very bold novel, and for this reason alone it carries as much weight, if not more, as her sisters' more fanciful works.Clearly the works of the Brontës, despite their similarities, weren't the product of one mind. I know that, but I still can't quite separate them. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Despite that one big ramble at the center of each, I really do enjoy the works of the Brontës, and I very much look forward to visiting them again, regardless of whether it be Anne, Charlotte, or Emily.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte was first published in 1848, it created a scandal and was a runaway bestseller, out-selling her sister Emily's Wuthering Heights. Her sister Charlotte condemned it as overly realistic (which makes me wonder about Charlotte, who was also critical of Jane Austen's gentler offerings).To the modern reader, the scene that sparked the scandal might fly past without notice; when the husband of our heroine, Helen, gets drunk and verbally abusive, she goes to her room and locks the door against him. Outrageous, eh? Much more shocking to me was an early scene where Helen and her five-year-old son visit her new neighbors and they offer both of them a nice alcoholic beverage. When Helen refuses on the part of her son she is given a lecture by the mistress of the house on how boys need to learn to drink from an early age.The Tenant of Wildfell Hall tells the story of Helen, her disastrous marriage to the dissolute Huntingdon and her subsequent flight to the run-down Wildfell Hall, where she lives in a few rooms alone with her son and a single servant, and of how her presence in a quiet, rural area excites the attention and then the gossip of her neighbors. Bronte is a master of characterization, especially in the form of Helen's husband, who enters the story as the witty, Byronic hero (also, he is hot), and then develops into someone very different. Helen's a bit of a damp squib, what with her firm belief in her duty to let everyone around her know when they are falling short, morally speaking, and in her determination to revel in her misery, but one can't but admire her fortitude and strength of will. And Gilbert, well, I'll let you draw your own conclusions about Gilbert.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gilbert Markham is fascinated with the mysterious Helen Graham who moves into some rooms in a nearby run-down manor house, Wildfell Hall located on a bleak moor, with her young son and faithful servant. As Gilbert falls for Helen she becomes the subject of local gossip and Gilbert in turn becomes jealous of another man who he believes is also in love with Helen – so she asks him to read her diary…

Told through letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law, the reader learns the reason for Helen’s occupation of the Hall – she has fled her unhappy and abusive marriage. This novel is widely considered to be one of the first feminist novels and caused quite a stir on publication due to its portrayal or a woman who breaks with convention, leaving her alcoholic husband, taking their child with her. It took me a few weeks to read it, but that has nothing to do with the content – it was very enjoyable and easy to read and Brontë’s portrayal of the mental cruelty Helen receives at the hands of her husband must have been really shocking at the time. It’s no wonder that after Anne’s death, Charlotte prevented further publication of the novel!

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rather didactic in parts, but interesting for those Austen fans who might have wondered what Elizabeth Bennet's life would have been like if she had married George Wickham. The heroine here marries an equally plausible (though richer) scoundrel, and bitterly rues it. There are a few unbelievable aspects --she hides from her evil husband in her own old family home. where a) he is unable to find her despite a frantic search b) she is so totally unknown that her brother is slanderously alleged to be her lover. Both appear unlikely if she had grown up in the neighborhood.

[jmaloney17 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I saw the BBC adaptation of this book about 6 months ago, so I think some of my excitement for the book may be diminished. I did like the book, I just think I would have liked it more if I had not known the ending. The only thing that irritated me a bit was Helen's piousness. It was a smidge over the top. I was hoping it wasn't something that the writer did just to prove she knows a lot of bible verses. I think the Bronte's father was a clergyman and a strict one at that, so it is all forgivable I suppose.The book is very well written. I think Anne may be my favorite writer of the three sisters. Oh wait, I have not read Wuthering Heights, so I like Anne better than Charlotte at least.

[thebookmagpie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The bad people are all horrible and the pious people are all saintly. No one is even remotely in the grey-area. Mr Hargrave seems to get a bit of a personality transplant halfway through. Helen is almost insufferable. Her aunt gets proved right, despite having a despicable (even for the time) attitude towards her niece. Anne can't pull off the pious heroine in the same way that Charlotte did in Villette, she just makes her horrendous. And who the fuck is Gilbert, anyway? He's so boring as to be utterly lacking in impact.

The writing was pretty good, though.

[emanate28 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A bit long-winded at times (there were chunks of Helen's diary and Gilbert's narrative afterwards that felt unnecessary), but gripping enough of a melodrama to keep me hooked and wanting to get to the end. What awful men! I enjoyed this, but can see that the characters are not as multi-layered and interesting as in Charlotte's or Emily's work.

[rosa_saks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne was the only one of the Brontë-sisters whom I was not familiar with, and that is why I wanted to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I half expected her to resemble her sisters in style and thematics, and she partly did. However, I was surprised (and excited) to discover that the story of Helen Graham/Huntingdon was not a powerful and all-consuming love story with an almost gothic backdrop. Rather, Anne Brontë places heavy empahsis on realism, and the fact that marriage in the Victorian era was not always as romantical as it often tends to be portrayed.Our heroine, Helen, has experienced an unhappy marriage - one that she got into when she was very young, in fact, too young to really comprehend the effects it would have on her life. Mr. Huntingdon, who seemed wonderful and loving at first, soon revealed himself to be quite the opposite. It is refreshing to read a book where the true nature of the average Victorian marriage is revealed with all its positive and negative sides. It really makes me think of the difficulty in marrying someone one barely knows, and all of a sudden being supposed to have breakfast together, go to social events together, in geneal; plan a life together.Helen is not a Jane or a Catherine. She is a heroine in her own right. She is strong, hopeful, kind and determined. And the Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerful rendering of the sometimes grim nature of Victorian marriage.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gilbert Markham is a young man falls for a woman who has moved into a large house in his neighborhood. Her background is a bit of a mystery. As Gilbert becomes more attached her past is slowly revealed in the form of a journal. The titular character, Helen Graham, escaped from an abusive marriage with her young son. I was in awe of Anne Bronte’s ability to tell such a relevant story in 1848. There are so many women who find themselves in the same situation today. She was young and naïve when she married Arthur Huntingdon and by the time she learned his true character it was too late. The writing is wonderful and for me that story pulled me in completely. The author tells the story from Gilbert’s point-of-view at times and from Helen’s at other times. The changing narrative flowed well and never rang false.Bronte covers some intense subjects in the book. In addition to infidelity and alcoholism, she makes some disturbing observations about women’s rights during this time period. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come in the last few years. BOTTOM LINE: For me, this Bronte novel fell right under Jane Eyre in my ranking. The characters aren’t as likeable, but the story is powerful. “If you would have your son to walk honorably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path, but teach him to walk firmly over them - not insist upon leading him by the hand, but let him learn to go alone.” “When I tell you not to marry without love, I do not advise you to marry for love alone: there are many, many other things to be considered. Keep both heart and hand in your own possession, till you see good reason to part with them; and if such an occasion should never present itself, comfort your mind with this reflection, that though in single life your joys may not be very many, your sorrows, at least, will not be more than you can bear. Marriage may change your circumstances for the better, but, in my private opinion, it is far more likely to produce a contrary result.”

[lakesidemusing · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It is officially my new favorite Brontë novel!

[libbromus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel knocked my socks off for it's surprisingly modern feminism and descriptions of survivors of narcissistic alcoholics. Takes the gloss right off of the Jane Austen treatment of people of similar means and moral attitudes. The moral and physical fortitude of Helen is incredible considering the epoch. Despite the fact that she is essentially considered property, she retains her dignity, her wits, her empathy (even for her detestable husband), and her ability to love. Truly, this is a worthy portrait of and guide for survivors of abuse/alcoholism notwithstanding it was written more than 150 years ago.

[shereadsnovels · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre have always been two of my favourite Victorian classics, this is the first time I've read anything by the youngest Bronte sister, Anne. I feel a bit guilty that it has taken me so long to get round to reading one of Anne's books, especially as I enjoyed it almost as much as the other two books I've just mentioned.Anne's writing style is not the same as Charlotte's or Emily's – there's less dramatic romanticism and poetic imagery, although she still writes with a lot of passion. She has quite a sharp style that is probably more similar to Jane Austen than to either of her sisters.I won't go into the plot in too much detail but The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the story of Helen Huntingdon, a young woman who leaves her alcoholic husband and goes into hiding with her five year-old son, Arthur. Not long after arriving at Wildfell Hall she meets local farmer, Gilbert Markham, who falls in love with her. When Gilbert questions her about the rumours circulating about her in the village, she allows him to read her diary in which she had recorded the details of her unhappy marriage.The book has an interesting structure - it's told partly in the form of letters from Gilbert Markham to his brother-in-law Jack Halford, and partly as extracts from Helen Huntingdon's diary. I loved the first section from Gilbert's point of view, describing the arrival of the mysterious woman at Wildfell Hall with everyone wondering who she was and where she came from. The story probably wouldn't have worked had it not been set in the 19th century. Today there's nothing unusual in a single mother living alone with her little boy, but in 1828 when The Tenant of Wildfell Hall takes place, it makes her the target of gossip and scandal.When Helen's diary began it took me a while to get used to the change of voice and the change of pace but it soon developed into the most powerful section of the book. I didn't particularly like Helen as I thought she was just a little bit too saintly and perfect, but she was a very strong person who defied convention to do what she thought was best for herself and her child. Her diary entries are filled with descriptions of some really despicable characters and describe scenes of drunkenness, violence, verbal and physical abuse, and adultery, which I can imagine readers in the 19th century would have been shocked by. Apparently after Anne's death, re-publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was prevented by Charlotte, who considered the choice of subject to be a big mistake. However, I would have no hesitation recommending this book to anyone who has enjoyed Emily and Charlotte's work, as well as those of you who have never read any other Bronte books - it gets 5 stars from me.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was totally spellbound by The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the second and final novel of Anne Bronte. This Victorian story opens in a rural community that has it’s focus on the newest arrival, a young widow, Helen Graham, who has taken up the tenancy at Wildfell Hall with her young son. As the community tried to unravel the truth behind Helen’s background, malicious gossip and innuendo arises accusing her of being an immoral woman. A local gentleman farmer, Gilbert Markham, finds himself becoming more enamoured by the widow and although they have obviously formed an attachment, he is frustrated by her resistance to his romantic advances and torn by jealousy. When she finally allows him to read about her life from her diary her troubled past is revealed.Helen’s previous life had been ruled by her alcoholic adulterous husband who made her life a living hell and seemed bent on teaching her son to follow in his debauchery. The book gives the reader a clear look at Victorian sensibilities, and although extremely shocking at the time of publication, has been lauded over the years for exposing the hypocrisy of hiding away scandals for appearance sake. I cannot imagine trying to live up to the ridge code of behaviour that was applied to Victorian women. I loved this story and grew to admire Helen immensely. Gilbert, on the other hand, although far better than her husband, was not my idea of the perfect man as he exhibited a childish, petulant side with a wicked temper. The story is told in an epistolary manner as Gilbert writes to a friend and then the pages of Helen’s diary. I got totally caught up in this revealing early feminist novel that was quite simply an exquisite read.

[jannief_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Probably my second favorite book written by the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre by Charlotte was just a tad better, IMO). This dealt with a then controversial subject regarding should a wife stay with an abusive husband. It begins from the male perspective - that of the young man that falls in love with the mysterious "widow" that recently moved into Wildfell Hall. When rumors begin to circulate that perhaps the widow is a fallen woman, he quickly rises to her defense. In so doing, she reveals to him her true tale. This is done through the reading of her journal (she gives it to him to read) and therefore the story changes to her perspective for most of the remainder of the book. Although a long book, I did not find it to drag at all. Once I was able to devote time to reading, I really got wrapped up in the story and was riveted to it. Although dealing with a serious subject, I did not find it dark, dreary and depressing, like "Wuthering Heights", nor was it boring, like "Villette". I did not find that it dragged at all (and even Jane Eyre did that in places). I highly recommend this book to those that like the classics. I'm looking forward now to watching the movie!

[anna_battista_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book again recently after a gap of about 10 years and could not believe how good it is. I remembered it as dull and unoriginal, I was astonished and delighted to discover it was passionate, modern, brave, beautifully written and dominated by the powerfully touching character of Helen Huntingdon, now one of my favourite fictional heroines. The plot captivated me from the beginning and I couldn't put the book down. I'm a huge fan of the Bronte sisters but always used to favour Charlotte and Emily; now I give Anne her rightful place at her sisters' side.

[greenalida · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a little known book by the little known Bronte sister, Anne. It is also one of my personal favorites. Written in the epistolary style, it is the tale of Gilbert Markham, the girl he falls in love with, and her story.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting novel, but is not, I think, destined to be one of my favourites. The story itself is fascinating for showing a failing marriage. Helen marries Arthur Huntingdon as she believe she sees something in him and can change him for the better. This is despite the best advice of her aunt, who can see right through Huntingdon's facade from the start. Mind you we can't necessarily blamed Helen for that; which of us has not ignored advice when it does not meet with our own inclination. Thought not. From the marriage things begin to go downhill. At first slowly, but then with increasing speed. Huntingdon is a drunk, a bully and generally behaves bady, showing a complete lack of care for his wife, who can do nothing right for him, and embarking on an affair with her friend, who has married one of his friends. It's not a pleasant portrait of life, but it is a very real one. It is, however, the behaviour towards her young son, also Arthur, that finally causes Helen to get the hell out of there and so she plots to leave Huntingdon. And this is actually where we see her first, as the new tenant of the house on the fell, calling herself Mrs Graham. I was not convinced by the manner in which this was told. It is set as a letter from our narrator to his brother in law, and tells of how he meets Mrs Graham and falls for her. She then geives him her diary, which is then related to the letter's recipient. It just doesn;t hang together and leaves everything at third hand. while both the letter and the diary are told in the first person, they are curiously flat and distant, somehow. I never really felt for them in any immediate way. Helen herself is a bit of an enigma, she leaves Huntingdon primarily for the sake of her son, not herself. She refuses the advances of any suitor while she is married, for the sake of their souls. Then she returns to nurse her husband. It's all very contradictory. I'm glad that I have finally read it, and I like the way that there is no sugar coating, this is a portrait of a failing marrige, it is not supposed to be nice or much of a romance. It's a warning to others, if you like, to not be taken in by appearances and to seek something stable and satisfyng. There's enough in here to keep the interest and make you want to know where the characters end up, I'm just not entirely conviced that this was the most effective way of telling the story.

[porius_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There's a nice edition on the internet. Stanford University Press. With an introduction by Mrs. Humphry Ward, granddaughter of Dr. Arnold of Rugby and niece of the poet & scholar, et cetera, Matthew Arnold.To the novel. Part One. Gilbert Markham narrates a great domestic mix-up, during which he knocks his rival off his horse and generally makes a shambles of his attempted romance with Helen Graham of Wildfell Hall. He gets jilted for his efforts.Part Two. Helen's diaries. She ends up marrying a blighter with less character than Felix Carbury, if that is possible. It's a disaster as husband Arthur and his cronies are every bit as riotous as King Lear and his men. Remember when Lear foolishly divided up his Kingdom and put his own security in jeopardy. He is a plague on Helen's house. She tries to flee but he prevents her. So far, so bad.Part Three. Arthur dies hard. Helen is now wealthy. Gilbert comes back, fearing Helen is somewhat out of his reach. He tiptoes around looking like a sheep with a secret sorrow. Not to worry. They get together in the end and make a good Dickensian home for little Arthur.

[griffin22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Weird book. It starts with the narrator meeting the mysterious widow, the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but a quarter of the way through the book it becomes a flashback in the form of the widow’s diary where we learn her history. I kept waiting for the ‘flashback’ to end and get back to the ‘real’ story, but the diary went on and on. I got quite impatient. I eventually flicked ahead to check, and found that the diary takes a very substantial portion - around half the book. I had been in the wrong mindset, it was as much the real story as the ‘present day’ parts. Anyway, it was an ok story. As much drama as romance. Didn’t love it as I do the Austen novels or Jane Eyre. I didn’t like the narrator/romantic lead much, he is an overexcited puppy.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anne Bronte is probably the least prominent of the three Bronte sisters, with this book and her other novel Agnes Grey not having achieved the same fame as Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights. But in terms of quality, I think this deserves to be ranked alongside those two masterpieces of early 19th century literature. The central narrative of the story revolves around speculation about the identity of the eponymous occupant of the local hall, with a substantial middle section of the book revealing her true identity and her dramatic failed marriage, an account which strikes many parallels with failed marriages of more recent times in the basic patterns and themes. Probably the most interesting aspect of the book for me was how successful the author is in portraying convincingly both the male authorial voice of the framework narrative in the first and final parts of the book, farmer Gilbert Markham, and the female much more aristocratic voice of Mrs Graham and her real identity in the middle part. Bronte switches gender register and ways of looking at the world in a seemingly effortless way between these sections, which is rare even now, and even rarer in the mid-19th century. A great read, though the very ending was perhaps slightly too drawn out.

[caslater83 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm going to try to be blunt about this: This is not my favorite classic. The Bronte sisters took the publishing world by storm in their time--almost unheard of for any woman of their time. I've read "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, and I wasn't really in love with it. I was hoping to have more positive feelings towards "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." Unfortunately, I did not fall in love with this book either. It's not cold, like most classics, but it is a bit darker, it's sadder, and more sullen that I'd like it to be.

A woman trapped in a loveless marriage is bound to be a sad book. She deserves so much and asks for so little in return and the husband is a fool and a moron to ignore her and neglect her for as long as he did. She finally leaves him. (And I secretly applaud her because I just don't like to see good wives stuck with jerks.) And when he gets sick and ends up on his deathbed, what happens? She goes back to him to nurse him. I thought she was crazy!!!

I'm satisfied with the ending, but I will admit that the writing style does nothing for me. I want to feel connected with the characters and feel drawn into their world. I just read the book and didn't feel much of anything. So while I admire the Bronte sisters for paving the way for other aspiring female writers, I wish their writing styles mirrored Jane Austen.

[cosmickate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anne Bonte is very much overshadowed by her sisters. I can say that she is an intellectual equal of her sisters and that she is very underrated. This book is fascinating. It's a work of quiet rebellion; the rebellion of Helen and of Anne herself, who is working to subvert some of the Romantic conventions. I love how this book portrays how strong a woman could be.

[readingwithtea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

TToWH has an unusual and intriguing structure – the outer layer is written as a string of letters from a man to his brother-in-law (daring, perhaps, on Anne Brontë’s part, to assume the voice of a man?). Approximately halfway through, he quotes a diary written by the female protagonist over a number of years verbatim, for most of the rest of the book. The prose is also extraordinarily detailed in the first section – but the male narrator has already indicated that his will be a detailed missive.According to the endnotes in my Penguin Classics edition, Brontë’s novel was a very early, if not the first, novel to deal with substance abuse among the upper classes. Clearly not one to shy away from controversial topics, she also touches on raising children and the worth of ambition. I don’t know what is was that inspired Brontë to depict an unhappy marriage in such detail, but it is certainly credible – and goes one step further than merely describing the subject matter, demanding that the reader ask themselves what is right, what is permissible.There are the usual Austen-like illustrations of domesticity – the nuances of courtship, an amusing description of the pontificating vicar, the nature of English beauty (very different from that which is desired today!), repeated depictions of women as nosy gossips whose contribution to society from the kitchen is undervalued and really quite a lot about hair.An excellent book, just beating Mansfield Park to the place of “favourite book so far”.

[swampygirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit preachy but not really much more than Jane Eyre was. I have found the social situations of these two heroins to be somewhat more interesting than the Austen heroins I have read about thus far.

[stouthearted_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of the least-studied novels of the Bronte sisters, but perhaps the most realistic. It doesn’t have those happy coincidences that were a beloved trope of Charlotte's, nor the over-romanticized male hero of Emily’s "Wuthering Heights." In fact, it’s almost a rebuttal to the latter, and a damning portrayal of Heathcliff-like character as if through Isabella Linton’s eyes. The brutal Gothic hero is exposed as a selfish, ruinous burden, while those who are forced to put up with such a jerk get the recognition they deserve. It’s hailed as a feminist novel, though modern feminists may critique the lengths to which Helen goes to serve her duty as a wife.The novel has two narrators: The first, Gilbert Markham, is a gentleman farmer of modest means who writes a letter in which he describes the story of the mysterious lady who moved into Wildfell Hall. In the middle of his tale, he is privy to read this lady’s journal, and the novel switches to her own narration of her turbulent past for many chapters. The lady calls herself Helen Graham, and when she moves into the neighborhood with her son and no husband, (and no desire to discuss her past), it causes gossipy tongues to wag. At first put off by her aloof manner, Gilbert eventually falls for her, but the strain of neighborhood gossip becomes too much and even he becomes suspicious, especially towards her landlord Mr. Lawrence, with whom she may or may not have a deeper relationship. It turns out that Helen loves Gilbert, too, so she sets to ease his mind by telling him all and lets him read her diary. It exposes a past filled with naivete, domestic abuse, and cruelty, and explains who Helen really is, why she must be so mysterious, and ultimately exposes her true character.Like most Bronte heroes, Gilbert’s character is marked by whining and selfishness. And like most Bronte heroines, it is Helen who has the best character: strong, steadfast, spiritually solid, and with a pragmatic acceptance of her lot in life, as well as her duty towards others. Though others may judge her, she lives a blemish-free life among drunks, adulterers, seducers, and spiritually-lacking, morally-deficient, gossiping, deceitful people. First, she puts up with her abusive husband out of a misguided attempt to make him a better man by her example. When she realizes how out of her league she is, her epiphany "I am no angel!" serves to remind her more that she is a mere mortal, and can only put up with him now out of the imposed societal code that dictates a woman is a man’s property. Her duty is to him, and his duty is to himself alone. There are no laws to protect her, and the rules of society deem that women who leave their husbands (for whatever reason) are considered to have lost their virtue. Second, she puts up with a town that demands her time and attention, and spreads lies about her for not exposing her past.Bronte does well skewering the hypocritical nature of early 19th century society. Although a very religious book – it quotes prodigiously from the Bible, and Helen maintains her trust in God and her morals throughout when others would tempt her away – it does not exempt the clergy from criticism. The Reverend Millward is a booze-loving clergyman who’s more concerned with appearances than true spiritual morality. His daughter, Eliza, is jealous, spiteful, and quick to spread unfounded vicious rumors. The small-town characters are themselves skewed as a busybody, gossiping lot, who seek to torment their neighbors for their own pleasure, shunning them if they seem less than worthy. Then there’s the upperclass gentlemen, men who leave the business of running their land to others while they cavort like playboys indulging in every vice. They are permitted to behave in the worst ways imaginable, and their wives are expected to put up with it. Any poor behavior upon his part would surely be blamed as a character flaw on her part. This lack of responsibility for one’s actions is a common motif throughout the novel – even Helen succumbs to it. When she defends her decision to marry Mr. Huntington, a known scoundrel, she blames his bad behavior on his parents. Later, Mr. Huntington blames his bad behavior on Helen: he drinks because she nags, because she treats him coldly when he disappears for months at a time, he has affairs because Helen is a bad wife, etc. To the end, Mr. Huntington refuses to accept any responsibility for the position he has put himself in. As in Bronte’s earlier work, "Agnes Grey," the author seems determined to portray an unvarnished account of life and what women suffer. In Agnes Grey, we saw the lot of the governess, and the cruel treatment she received. "The Tenant" exposed the lot of the wife, especially the wife tethered to an unfaithful, abusive husband. No matter what is done to her, Helen cannot divorce her husband. She is his property and nothing, not the wages she earns nor the child she bears, legally belongs to her. It is a cruel lot in life, blowing the lid off the romantic perception of the 19th century gentleman as a romantic hero. If you ever read "Wuthering Heights" and were disturbed by Heathcliff, or maybe to some extent by Jane Eyre’s Rochester, this book will be a vindication to your thoughts.