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4.0 

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall

By Anne Brontë
The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

The second and final book written by English author Anne Brontë is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Under the alias Acton Bell, it was first printed in 1848. It had an instant and amazing success and was arguably the most upsetting of the Brontë sisters' books, but following Anne's passing, her sister Charlotte stopped its re-publication in England until 1854. The story is told through a series of letters that Gilbert Markham writes to a friend about the encounter with a mysterious young widow who goes by the name of Helen Graham and shows up at Wildfell Hall, an abandoned Elizabethan manor, with her small son and a servant. In contrast to early 19th-century customs, she pursues a profession as an artist and earns money by selling her paintings. She quickly becomes a social outcast as a result of her severe seclusion, which quickly sparks rumors in the nearby town. Gilbert befriends her and learns about her past after refusing to believe anything controversial about her. She documents her husband's physical and spiritual decline caused by alcohol and vice in the disintegrating aristocratic society in the diary she gives Gilbert. She ultimately takes her son with her, whom she is desperate to protect from his father's influence.

6 Reviews

4.0
“More likely 4.5, but it's worth it to round this book up, as it is without a doubt my favourite Bronte. I loved Helen, I loved her for her perseverance, her strength, even her pride. I loved her for challenging society's hypocrisy, I connected with her disdain for small talk. This book made me so so sad, and I prepared for a depressing, heartless ending, (spoilers) but thankfully Anne has more hope then her sisters. I really, truly, enjoyed this beautiful story, which was all the more surprising due to the fact that I do not tend to enjoy epistolary novels!”

About Anne Brontë

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