Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

more photos (2)

Read Book* *Different edition

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë,

Stevie Davies (Editor, Introduction)

3.97 · Rating details · 93,286 ratings · 4,984 reviews

Note: Editions of The Tenant that start with: "You must go back with me..." are incomplete. Actual opening line of the novel is: "To J. Halford, Esq. Dear Halford, when we were together last..."

This is the story of a woman's struggle for independence. Helen "Graham" has returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage. Exiled to the desolate moorland mansion, ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, Penguin Classics, 576 pages

Published April 16th 1996 by Penguin Books (first published 1848)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Best Books of the 19th Century

1,116 books — 6,482 voters

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Best of Brontë

15 books — 352 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.97 ·

Rating details

· 93,286 ratings · 4,984 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Jun 21, 2008 Amy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Carol said I must list my all time favorite books. What a challenge this is! I have read everything those Bronte girls wrote, even their childhood poetry and I love all of it. But Anne will take the showing on my list for her bravery. Of course Charlotte was the most prolific and Emily the true brainiac, but Anne has my complete respect for being a true literary pioneer: she was the first woman to write of a wife leaving her abusive husband - and then goes on to lead a happy, successful life! Up ...more

flag 314 likes · Like · see review

Jan 24, 2021 Ruby Granger rated it it was amazing

I've read this once before (I was thirteen and we went to the beach for the day; I read it in a single sitting and didn't end up swimming at all because I loved it so much!). The plot is fast-paced and was just as enjoyable this time around.

The book is written part-epistolary and part-diary. Like Frankenstein, the form is a writing inside of writing inside of writing. This raises so many questions about validity & reliability of the story, especially with regards to the meticulous dialogue... I ...more

flag 219 likes · Like · see review

Aug 18, 2014 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An unknown woman suddenly appears in the dilapidated mansion Wildfell Hall, abandoned for many years by the wealthy family that owned it as uninhabitable, surrounded by the bleak moorlands in a remote quiet village, in the northern English countryside during the early part of the 19th century, no one knew she was coming the locals are very curious who is she ? What is she doing calling herself Mrs.Graham, a widow with a lively five- year -old boy Arthur. The villagers distrust outsiders, the glo An unknown woman suddenly appears in the dilapidated mansion Wildfell Hall, abandoned for many years by the wealthy family that owned it as uninhabitable, surrounded by the bleak moorlands in a remote quiet village, in the northern English countryside during the early part of the 19th century, no one knew she was coming the locals are very curious who is she ? What is she doing calling herself Mrs.Graham, a widow with a lively five- year -old boy Arthur. The villagers distrust outsiders, the gloomy dismal, cold, Wildfell Hall is not fit to live only a couple of rooms are fixed and just loyal, old servant Rachel to assist, there is a mystery to be solved... The son of a late gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham a neighbor, is smitten by Helen Graham her beauty, poise, intelligence, good manners and still young about 25 around the same age as he. Going to see Mrs.Graham often any excuse will do, being a friendly good neighbor bringing a book, giving her son a puppy finally declaring his undying love but Helen rejects him, not possible any future between the couple some enigma from the past, that remains unexplained and Gilbert shouldn't come anymore, it's upsetting her feelings. The unusually independent woman rare in those days, makes a modest living, painting and selling beautiful, vividly colored, landscapes ... But scandalous rumors drench the area,
destroying her reputation that Mrs.Graham was never married and her landlord Frederick Lawrence, a frequent visitor is the spitting image of her son Arthur even the local amiable vicar stays away from the lady. The jealous confused hot -tempered Gilbert, neglects his family a loving mother younger brother rather lazy, the witty Fergus pretty, sweet, sister Rose and especially the farm. Mr.Markham becomes a peeping Tom hiding in the bushes and behind trees outside Wildfell Hall, spying on Mrs.Graham witnessing the affections of Mr. Lawrence and Helen with his own eyes towards each other so the rumors are valid... The out of control Gilbert seething with tremendous anger, deep jealousy and extreme hate attacks his friend Mr. Lawrence unprovoked, with a heavy whip on horseback striking his head causing much blood to spill, falling down from his animal on a muddy wet lonely road, the badly injured Frederick is stunned, why? The rains pour over the prone body the somewhat remorseful moody Mr.Markham, tries to help but soon leaves his victim to fend for himself and rides away...Later Mrs.Graham gives Gilbert her secret diary to read, a troubled past she has experienced, full of unbelievable torment suffering and abuse, her little son in the middle not comprehending any of it thank God, but she must escape this environment or the child will also be marked for life and the mother can not let this happen...A superior work, this indictment of the lack of freedom , which women in England endured, during that harsh era what they went through, so much mistreatment little rights . Anne Bronte shows the world that she was as talented a writer as her big sisters. ...more

flag 175 likes · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2013 Samadrita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: britain, human-drama, 500gbbw, cherished, by-women-who-matter, timeless-classics, european-literature, 1001-and-more, romance

"Reformed rakes make the best husbands."

This is the maxim that governs the universe of historical romance novels. That a puerile assumption regarding dissolute cads turning into paragons of puritanical goodness on being administered the vital dosage of a virgin's 'love' fuels women's fantasies in this day and age depresses me to no end.
In a sense, this is the dialectical opposite of Kerouac's On the Road in that it systematically demystifies a contrived notion of masculine 'coolness' - the bastard child of a vile solipsism and unchecked aggression - that the latter romanticized. Women writers of today, particularly those who are laughing all the way to the bank by mass-producing this unforgivable blather, wake the hell up! The youngest Brontë sister saw the evil the cult of machismo breeds in young male children and portrayed it without inhibitions, without holding anything back. 150+ years ago. What are you still waiting for?

It is all very well to talk about noble resistance, and trials of virtue; but for fifty-or five hundred men that have yielded to temptation, show me one that has had virtue to resist. And why should I take it for granted that my son will be one in a thousand?-and not rather prepare for the worst, and suppose he will be like this-like the rest of mankind, unless I take care to prevent it?

Reading this nearly made me experience that same nightmare that is encapsulated in Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Of course the horrors that Atwood delineated with an unsettling composure make you break out in gooseflesh while Helen's traumatic experiences are merely unpleasant. But there's the same sick feeling of being held against one's will, the same revulsion that threatens to overshadow all other emotions. A blow by blow account of an abusive marriage and a woman being condemned to tolerating a melee hosted by drunken, wife-and-child-abusing reprobates day after infuriating day, year after agonizing year will do that to you. Especially when this picture of oppression is completed by the inexorable professions of love from overenthused admirers who do not take the matter of consent all that seriously. Does that seem harrowing enough?

Marriage may change your circumstances for the better, but, in my private opinion, it is far more likely to produce a contrary result.

That I am choosing to hold back a star is because Anne's writing lacks Emily's verve and Charlotte's intellectual rigour and that certain something which makes one wish to prolong the act of reading a book. Her characterization is a bit wobbly as Helen is inconsistent throughout the length of the novel - she is stringently insular against Gilbert's growing affection for her and suddenly she isn't, she secures an escape route from her husband's den of debauchery and suddenly returns to that same hell when he is dying in an act of Christian compassion. Besides the repeated attempts at making doctrinal virtue a crutch on which to balance her self assertion wearied me. (Yes yes this was the Victorian era, I understand!)
The narrative is a bit lacking in an overall structural integrity. This is particularly evident in the presence of certain generic plot devices and cliches that Anne employs to effect a reconciliation between Gilbert and Helen. I would have been most happy if Gilbert had just been a mildly nosy townsman narrating the events because as a character he may not have been there at all.
__

P.S.:-Mary A. Ward's introduction mentions how Branwell's alcoholism and reckless behaviour inspired Emily and Anne Brontë to recreate the same kind of violence in their fiction. Heathcliff and Huntingdon were the results. ...more

flag 149 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2017 Jess rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: CALLING ALL FEMINISTS!

Shelves: 2017, re-reads, best-heroines, cover-envy, favorites, feminism-done-properly, bronte, 2018

(Find the full sized image here.)

Before we discovered Anne Brontë, some of us fancied Heathcliff. We wanted to fix him, tame him, soothe his tortured soul. Or maybe if you preferred the more mature and experienced man, you craved Mr Rochester. Perhaps you even draped yourself out of your bedroom window on stormy nights, convinced that someone somewhere was calling to you.

Not any more. It's time to ditch those Byronic heroes, everyone. No more 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'; only sober, honest ...more

flag 155 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2019 Paul Bryant rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels

Some movies are really pretty bad except for one transcendent performance, Sophie’s Choice for instance. The glittering pallid Meryl Streep is just brilliant whilst the movie itself is a bit of a pain. Same with novels.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a game of three halves. For the first 100 pages the tiresomely earnest Gilbert Markham tells his tale of how he fell in love with the new lady tenant of the crumbling hall and how she drove him crazy with her intense mysteriousness and this is all v ...more

flag 125 likes · Like · see review

Aug 01, 2018 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hahahahahaaarrrrrgh, favorites, havanas-en-masse, persuasive, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, unforgettable, so-good-it-hurts

Bravissima, Brontë!

There is a straight logical line leading from the brilliant fiction of Anne Brontë, written in 1847, to Margaret Atwood's equally persuasive The Handmaid's Tale of our own era. Eloquent, erudite, witty women describe what makes patriarchal, Christian society brutally unjust to any woman of feeling and intelligence, and not just in extreme cases, but in its core idea of women's roles and choice(lessness) - their suppressed individual right to self-defined sexuality and their de Bravissima, Brontë!

There is a straight logical line leading from the brilliant fiction of Anne Brontë, written in 1847, to Margaret Atwood's equally persuasive The Handmaid's Tale of our own era. Eloquent, erudite, witty women describe what makes patriarchal, Christian society brutally unjust to any woman of feeling and intelligence, and not just in extreme cases, but in its core idea of women's roles and choice(lessness) - their suppressed individual right to self-defined sexuality and their denied financial and judicial independence.

It is the eternal story of beautiful, smart Helen! She is 18 years old, and she feels attracted to a typical bad guy, Arthur Huntingdon. In a modern, liberal, democratic and equal society, she will have an affair with him during her teenage years, then she will get over the butterflies, leave him and embark on another adventure during her years of professional emancipation and training, possibly with less disgusting Mr Hargrave. When she realises that he isn't her type either, she will break up again and eventually find her Mr Markham, marry him and have children while pursuing her professional career. Possibly, the marriage will work out, and they will live through ups and downs and stay together. Or they might divorce and go their separate ways again, on equal terms.

But this is not the kind of society Helen is born into. She is brainwashed with a genuine fear of Hell, and a wish to earn her place in Heaven by suffering humiliation and degradation in this life rather than going against the inconsistent Church teachings (which even believers fail to explain in the course of the narrative, thus creating involuntarily comical effects by discussing the sadness they feel that they won't be loving each other in the same - read: physical, sexual - way if they are united in Heaven, rather than on Earth).

So Helen, cursed with being born into the wrong society, has to suffer when she feels her first sexual desire, and she decides to marry the scoundrel that crosses her path, and then to endure his entitlement and misogynistic attacks for years. Both she and her infernal husband consider her his property. They are one single entity, with him being the head, and her being the body to be used and discarded at the head's pleasure. Only when she realises he might turn her 5-year-old son into an alcoholic, she runs away and lives (against current law) in hiding in a remote place, quietly suffering the gossip of the village that shows no mercy for a young woman on her own, and produces such a flood of fake news regarding her behaviour that the reader would have fallen into despair, had she not been schooled in the post-truth era (Brontë seems to have lived in a pre-truth era, which leaves the reader wondering when truth was ever spoken!).

When the monstrous husband is deserted by his second lover and fatally ill from an accident, the saintly woman returns to do her Christian duty and nurse him until he finally, mercifully dies by the hand of the caring author, who knows the reader needs poetical justice after such suffering and pain. The beautiful Helen is rewarded for her consistency and sexual restraint by marrying the valiant knight who waited for her without assaulting her in the meantime, and without calling her ungrateful for daring not to love him, as the not-so-valiant Hargrave did. Rejected men are dangerous, as we know. The highest prize for a devout woman AD 1847 is to marry an apple that is not rotten through and through.

Helen undoubtedly is stronger and more independent than most women of her times, and yet she mirrors the horror of conventional Christianity in combination with patriarchy. Being an intelligent, passionate woman with natural desires, she should have been allowed a choice at every step of her development - as it is, the reader can only bow to the powerful narrative in the voice of a woman who dared to show the injustice and absurdity of her times, writing for both men and women, as she stated in the preface.

Wild One! In the best possible sense! ...more

flag 121 likes · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2013 Charlotte rated it really liked it

Shelves: for-iriluri, trauma-rep, victorian

Helen: [slams the bedroom door on her abusive husband, insisting in a groundbreaking feminist statement that she does not deserve and will not tolerate his treatment, also implicitly denying him the entitlement to her body that was presumed under legal coverture]
Me:
description

...more

flag 119 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2018 Dem rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, recommended

What a surprisingly good read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was.

I think when you read a Classic like this you have to immerse yourself in the time when it was written and this one goes back to the mid 1840s, a time when the pace of life was slower, and when there was no Television or social media and a time when snail mail and word of mouth were the facebook and twitter of the time. I think if you have the ability to do this you would love and enjoy this novel as I am sure this was a rocking good ...more

flag 97 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2017 Piyangie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library, brittish-lit, favorite-classic

The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall is the second novel and my first reading of Anne Bronte. The first thought that came to mind while reading this was why it took me this long to discover her? I was familiar with her more famous sisters Charlotte and Emily but didn't know of her existence until a very recent time!

Anne's writing is far different from that of her sisters. Her approach to writing is more direct. There is no poetic language, no implied romanticism, and less flowery phrases, which is th The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall is the second novel and my first reading of Anne Bronte. The first thought that came to mind while reading this was why it took me this long to discover her? I was familiar with her more famous sisters Charlotte and Emily but didn't know of her existence until a very recent time!

Anne's writing is far different from that of her sisters. Her approach to writing is more direct. There is no poetic language, no implied romanticism, and less flowery phrases, which is the signature of her famous siblings. Instead, her writing is direct, bold, and realistic. With her authentic writing style, she weaves the tale of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall into a realistic, timeless tale.

The heroine, Helen, finds her paying a bitter price for her foolish infatuation and ultimate marriage to a rake. His alcoholism and debauchery make her life a living hell, but she endures it all with her strong sense of duty. When his conduct threatens the well-being of her son, she flees and seeks refuge elsewhere with the noble desire of the welfare of her son at her heart. Eventually, her "good for nothing" husband dies and she finally finds love and happiness.

Although the gist of the story seems like a pretty little love story, it is not. It is a story of sheer courage and patience to forbear abuse and to hold on when all your hopes are cruelly crushed and despair is threatening to drown you. It is a story of a sense of duty towards one’s husband although he is no better than a demon. It is a story of a mother who is taking the right course of action to protect her son, although that course of action is something which would shock the world (for, leaving one's husband under any circumstances was against the law and nothing short of a crime) and scorn her. This is still the story of numerous women all around the world. For them, Helen is a model of comfort and strength to draw courage from and to stand on their own ground. Having an abusive alcoholic brother herself, Anne must have been well aware of the consequences of women in such a household.

This piece of work is regarded as one of feminist work, but my opinion is to the contrary. Although there is a touch of feminism in it with more emphasis on the wrongs done for women, it is not completely so. The story talks about both sides; a woman's suffering in the case of abuse and debauchery by her husband and a man's suffering in the event of adultery by his wife. And it also points at the villains among men, who rather than offering strength, comfort, and of friendly support to a woman in desperate need of it, tries to reap their own fruit of selfish passion.

The book deals with so many raw emotions, the ever-changing feelings when faced with different tiers of misery. Though the book lacks beautiful language, flowery prose, and graceful flow as that you would expect in a Bronte, this direct narrative is soul searching with every written sentence tugging at your heartstrings. It is truly amazing when a book does that. I had a delightful reading experience with this book. It is a book quite advance in time in which it was written. And I'm thankful to Anne Bronte for taking upon a daring venture in writing this wonderful book on a universal and timeless theme. ...more

flag 105 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2014 shakespeareandspice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, own-in-print

[4.5 stars]

Move over, Charlotte. Make room for my new favorite Brontë!

It is inevitable for me to compare Anne Brontë with her sisters, and Helen Graham with Jane Eyre particularly, but I shall momentarily do so anyway. Some said this was better than any Brontë novel published, some claimed it deeply overhyped. After reading this, I shall have to agree with the former claim as I thought this book surpassed, to quite an extent, the love I had for Jane Eyre.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall shook me from ...more

flag 83 likes · Like · see review

May 05, 2009 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: fiction, history-19th-c

I suspect that many readers today have no idea that these three vicarage-raised spinsters took the English publishing world by storm in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Thundering from reviews were words like coarse, shocking, immoral, depraved . . . and those reviewers thought the authors Acton, Ellis, and Currer Bell were men!

Tenant hit the shelves with the biggest splash, requiring a second edition, at the front of which Anne added an impassioned forward aimed at critics. She maintains that she is ...more

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

May 04, 2016 Samantha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

With this book Anne has now become my favorite Brontè! Amazing story! Not only is the writing phenomenal but the issues she addresses were truly progressive for the time: feminism, alcoholism, abuse, etc
A must read!

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: british, classics, literature, fiction, 19th-century, romance

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by the English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell.

The novel is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend about the events connected with his meeting a mysterious young widow, calling herself Helen Graham, who arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son and a servant.

C ...more

flag 76 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2015 Helene Jeppesen added it · review of another edition

This was a beautiful love story with one of the most interesting narrative styles I've ever encountered. Without saying too much, the narration of this story shifts, and the overall style is not your typical narration style of a novel. Does this make sense? :P I hope not, because I want for you to read this book and see for yourself what I'm talking about (also I'm really tired when writing this, so bear with me).
Anne Brontë has a way of creating very complicated and also mean characters, and I ...more

flag 70 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2013 Fiona rated it it was amazing

Shelves: worldview-shapers, book-clubs-i-have-known, favourites, read-in-2015, the-past, highbrow-literachoor

The question "Jane Eyre or Catherine Earnshaw[/Linton/whatever]?" has always annoyed me. I couldn't stand Wuthering Heights, accomplished though it was, and I think lots of people tend to assume I must be something of a Jane Eyre devotee: I'm not. I'm really not.

The next time someone asks me which I prefer, I shall tell them: Helen Huntingdon. Emphatically, enthusiastically, and with the fire of a thousand suns. Helen Huntingdon don't need no man. She's had enough of your friendzoning bullshit. ...more

flag 65 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2019 April (Aprilius Maximus) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, classics, favourites

I really enjoyed this! Not as much as Jane Eyre (which will always be my favourite Brontë novel), but Anne was so ahead of her time with this. We stan a feminist icon!

TW: abusive relationships

flag 64 likes · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2020 Ines rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really loved so much this book, it was not an easy reading for me, it went very slow in some parts
The characters were very peculiar and interesting, had to concentrate a lot because there are maybe fifty different secondary of them.... so some parts of the book have been read twice to fully understand the connections...
i did not know much about this book before the reading, i was quite surprised to find this psycopathology way of life underlying all the plot, this will surrounds many relations ...more

flag 67 likes · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2021 Mara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: physical-owned

*editing this to full 5 stars, as I am liking this more as I think about it days later* Man oh man, I think this is now my second favorite Bronte novel? A seriously underhyped classic, this was truly a pleasure to read. The only thing that holds me back from a full 5 stars is that I STAN Helen on another level and Gilbert was a little too derpy for my tastes, but I am going to be noodling on this one for quite some time. What a statement about women and their work, feminism, and how much people ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2011 Marieke rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011, e-book, gossip-girls, classics, feminism, united-kingdom, soap-operas-for-the-cerebral-set, books-i-never-read-but-shoulda, bookish, nook

That was a rather long letter, eh?

flag 58 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2018 Paul rated it really liked it

Shelves: readingwomenchallenge

4.5 stars
I’ve been meaning to read this for years and have finally got round to it. The plot is pretty straightforward. Gilbert Markham is a gentleman farmer and the story is set as a series of letters to his friend. A mysterious woman (Helen Graham, an assumed name) and her young son move into Wildfell Hall, a local and somewhat rundown property. She is rather reclusive and begins to be the subject of local gossip. Over time she mixes with some of her neighbour and Gilbert falls in love with he 4.5 stars
I’ve been meaning to read this for years and have finally got round to it. The plot is pretty straightforward. Gilbert Markham is a gentleman farmer and the story is set as a series of letters to his friend. A mysterious woman (Helen Graham, an assumed name) and her young son move into Wildfell Hall, a local and somewhat rundown property. She is rather reclusive and begins to be the subject of local gossip. Over time she mixes with some of her neighbour and Gilbert falls in love with her. Helen does her best not to encourage him, but he befriends her son and praises her art, which is important to her. One evening he sees Helen being friendly towards a neighbour and friend of his. He confronts her and she gives him her diary and tells him to go away and read it. Gilbert also attacks and injures the neighbour. The diary is an account of Helen’s abusive marriage to Arthur Huntingdon and it transpires that the man Gilbert has attacked is Helen’s brother. The diary takes up a large portion of the book and is narrated by Helen. Helen then goes off to nurse her husband who is now very ill because of his dissolute lifestyle. Eventually Arthur does the decent thing and dies. Then the question is do Gilbert and Helen finally get it together. The reader already knows the answer of course. A fairly straightforward plot, executed well.
However we are talking Bronte’s here and there is a lot more going on. It has been described as one of the earliest feminist novels. When Helen discovers that Arthur is having an affair she makes a clear decision to end their marital intimacy, saying to him that she would remain a wife in name only. As May Sinclair said the shutting of Helen’s bedroom door against her husband reverberated through Victorian England. Unlike her two sisters Anne Bronte did not glamourize violent and alcoholic men and she was the one that spent the most time nursing Branwell. All of the sisters used Branwell as a model, Anne did not endow Arthur Huntingdon with any glamour, and he is painted plainly as a charming abuser.
Anne also has a lot to say about the nature of men, on which subject she is a bit of a pessimist:
“It is all very well to talk about noble resistance, and trials of virtue; but for fifty-or five hundred men that have yielded to temptation, show me one that has had virtue to resist. And why should I take it for granted that my son will be one in a thousand?-and not rather prepare for the worst, and suppose he will be like this-like the rest of mankind, unless I take care to prevent it?”
The topics the novels covers: abuse, alcoholism, adultery, a woman leaving her husband were all unusual at the time. Helen wants to bring up her own son differently:
“My greatest source of uneasiness, in this time of trial, was my son, whom his father and his father’s friends delighted to encourage in all the embryo vices a little child can show, to instruct in all the evil habits he could acquire – in a word, to `make a man of him’ was one of their staple amusements”
Although Helen’s attempts to ensure he never drinks by administering alcohol with an emetic hardly seem to be the height of good childcare either!
Helen is made to challenge a lot of legal and social conventions relating to marriage, motherhood, living alone and relating to men.
There are some irritations as well. Helen is piously religious as well and will insist on going on about it. Gilbert spends most of the time whining and complaining, apart from beating up someone he sees as a rival. There is a complexity to it and articles and texts analysing it are abundant.
In the end Helen proposes to Gilbert:
“She turned away her glistening eye and crimson cheek, and threw up the window and looked out, whether to calm her own excited feelings or to relieve her embarrassment,—or only to pluck that beautiful half-blown Christmas rose that grew upon the little shrub without, just peeping from the snow, that had hitherto, no doubt, defended it from the frost, and was now melting away in the sun. Pluck it however, she did, and having gently dashed the glittering powder from its leaves, approached it to her lips and said—
‘This rose is not so fragrant as a summer flower, but it has stood through hardships none of them could bear: the cold rain of winter has sufficed to nourish it, and its faint sun to warm it; the bleak winds have not blanched it, or broken its stem, and the keen frost has not blighted it. Look, Gilbert, it is still fresh and blooming as a flower can be, with the cold snow even now on its petals.—Will you have it?’”
It’s a great novel with a lot going on and I shouldn’t have left it so long to have read it.

...more

flag 54 likes · Like · see review

Oct 01, 2020 JimZ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Before writing this review, I re-read my review of Agnes Grey, Anne’s first novel, in which I gave it only 2 stars because I found it too boring. After posting my review, a number of GR friends said I should read this novel, and that I might like it more than her first work. And they were right. I give this novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848; T.C. Newby, London) a solid 3 stars.

The edition I read was a Penguin Classic paperback (1979, 1985) with an Introduction by Winifred Gerin. I am glad ...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2010 Sarah rated it really liked it

Poor Helen. Poor Anne. Poor book...

Anne is just as much a Brontë as her sisters! Her voice, in many ways, completes the harmony and picks up where the two of them leave off. True, there are no fires, ghosts, or windswept moors. But, as one critic noted, "The slamming of Helen's bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England."

I struggle with Victorian literature, because I don't have a clear sense of context. It's difficult for me to separate the author from her time. Poor Helen. Poor Anne. Poor book...

Anne is just as much a Brontë as her sisters! Her voice, in many ways, completes the harmony and picks up where the two of them leave off. True, there are no fires, ghosts, or windswept moors. But, as one critic noted, "The slamming of Helen's bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England."

I struggle with Victorian literature, because I don't have a clear sense of context. It's difficult for me to separate the author from her time. This book suffers from the usual problems inherent to the period. The story is, by necessity, a little drawn out. There's the contrived excuse for narration, superfluous to contemporary readers, etc.

The story, however, is evenly written and the characterization is stunningly deep. I admit, I initially found Helen a little too rigid, too cold, and perhaps emotionally dependent on her son. I came to understand her and her choices. (Yes, a pious...Victorian...mother was somehow made relatable to me!)

Helen is not especially worldly. She's not especially brazen. Yet there's courage in that quiet demeanor. There's a still, small voice that refuses to waver. It's true, her beliefs aren't my beliefs. But I admire her fortitude. I'm touched by her steadfast devotion. She stood firm in her own convictions, even as her swaggering husband laughed at them. --In addition to being a book about feminism and piety, this is one of the better books about alcoholism.

Helen was warned about Arthur yet married him anyway. She did the best she could. She tried with all her heart. Sometimes that's all you can do. To paraphrase from another book, If I knew then what I know now...it wouldn't matter a ~~damn~~ darn. (Sorry, Ms. Brontë).

"He is very fond of me - almost too fond. I could do with less caressing and more rationality: I should like to be less a pet and more a friend, if I might choose - but I won't complain of that: I am only afraid his affection loses in depth where it gains in ardour. I sometimes liken it to a fire of dry twigs and branches compared with one of solid coal, - very bright and hot, but if it should burn itself out and leave nothing but ashes behind, what shall I do? But it won't - it shan't, I am determined..."

Sadly, I can relate. ...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

May 15, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sassysassenachs, novels, pre-1900s, oxford-classics, distaff

The second novel Anne wrote before she caught pulmonary tuberculosis shortly after her 29th birthday. Certainly not something on those 100 Things To Do Before You’re 30 Lists. 1) Paragliding. 2) Kayaking. 3) Catch pulmonary TB and die. See? Good. The problem with those lists is they presuppose readers like the outdoors and have a private income of some three zillion units. Far better the lists have simpler aims for us mortals: 1) Eat a probiotic yoghurt. 2) Bumslide down a banister. 3) Help dryw The second novel Anne wrote before she caught pulmonary tuberculosis shortly after her 29th birthday. Certainly not something on those 100 Things To Do Before You’re 30 Lists. 1) Paragliding. 2) Kayaking. 3) Catch pulmonary TB and die. See? Good. The problem with those lists is they presuppose readers like the outdoors and have a private income of some three zillion units. Far better the lists have simpler aims for us mortals: 1) Eat a probiotic yoghurt. 2) Bumslide down a banister. 3) Help drywall your father’s shed. 4) Post an actual letter. 5) Touch something with a DANGER OF DEATH sign. That sort of thing.

Anyway. Anne’s second novel shows her evolving considerably as a prose composer—if not in terms of style or structure, certainly in terms of content and ideas. The structure is peculiar—the first 100pp concern Gilbert Markham’s attempts to chat up a reclusive new tenant at the titular Hall, before switching to the letters of said tenant, Helen Graham/Huntingdon. This is what we MFA graduates call a fucking huge narrative lurch, but the story becomes far more interesting as Helen’s narrative voice is the strongest (Gilbert doesn’t quite convince as a man) and more rife with intrigue, struggle and heartbreak, etc.

She marries Arthur Huntington despite her supposed intelligence, an alcoholic in remission whose condition returns during his frequent trips to the dens of London. He soon morphs into a monster and Helen’s patience is tested to snapping point, forcing her to flee her fallen hubby. The novel is one of the strongest (and earliest) depictions of the human rights abuses the marriage laws of the period were capable of encouraging . . . by marrying a man the woman was entitled to hand everything she owned to the husband and become an obedient slave-creature. The prose meekly screams at this pathetic injustice and rightly so.

The writing style is extremely circumlocutious in places and only very patient, bedridden readers will want to wade through the long monologues and nature descriptions . . . I mean this in comparison with other novels of the period, so heed that warning. The structure works surprisingly well as the narrative is handed back to Gilbert, although the clumsy recourse to letters to keep the story going makes the last quarter a painful flop technically speaking . . . plot-wise, I was bursting to know how things turned out for the long-suffering Helen. Excellent work. First Brontë has passed the test. Next: Charley.
...more

flag 51 likes · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2009 Tatiana rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001, classics

Funny how things change. I used to love this book. I pretty much can't stand it now. 3 stars (it was 5 before today) is just an obligatory i-appreciate-but-not-really-care-for-it rating.

Anne Brontë and I would have never been friends, because it's hard to be a friend with someone so damn righteous and unbendable. Sure, Helen Graham and Agnes Grey are fictional characters, but is there a doubt they are reflections of the author? Not in my mind.

Granted, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a huge impro ...more

flag 51 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2018 leynes rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Let’s start with some fun facts: One of my most used annotations in regards to Mr Huntingdon was: “the fuck outta here” and “ew”. One of my most used annotations in regards to Gilbert was: “kill it with fire” and “ew”. One of my most used annotations in regards to Helen was: “ugh” and “can’t relate”. Clearly, I had a good time.

The only reason why I didn’t rate The Tenant of Wildfell Hall one star is the fact that I gave Anne an additional star for good intentions. Yes, I am a generous hoe. The ...more

flag 53 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2021 Bionic Jean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-crime, read-authors-a-b, classics, 19th-century-ish

Who is the mysterious new tenant of Wildfell Hall. Why is she so proud and unapproachable? And why has she chosen to live in such a desolate, forbidding place?

“What have I done? and what will be the end of it?”

Intrigued? Then how about if I say that the great author Charlotte Brontë said that this novel should never have been written, and it would be better for everyone if it never saw the light of day again. Harsh words indeed, from Anne Brontë’s elder sister.

Critics loathed The Tenant of Wildf ...more

flag 60 likes · Like · see review

Sep 20, 2020 Anne (on semi-hiatus) rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, classics, 19th-century, banned-books, britain, 2014, 1001-books

4.5
This novel surprised me. I have been reading a lot of Victorian literature lately and this was quite a departure. Anne Bronte was a brave woman, writing about matters that Victorian society preferred to keep under wraps and by having a heroine, in the end, do a very modern thing, live life by her own rules and not that of the society in which she lived. In many ways, this is a very modern novel. On almost every page Anne Bronte holds a mirror up to Victorian society and in the end, shows that 4.5
This novel surprised me. I have been reading a lot of Victorian literature lately and this was quite a departure. Anne Bronte was a brave woman, writing about matters that Victorian society preferred to keep under wraps and by having a heroine, in the end, do a very modern thing, live life by her own rules and not that of the society in which she lived. In many ways, this is a very modern novel. On almost every page Anne Bronte holds a mirror up to Victorian society and in the end, shows that society her answer to some of the difficulties for women of that period. Once published, Anne Bronte was criticized heavily by critics and by her own sister Charlotte for writing this book (though Charlotte had her own reasons which I won’t go into here).

The novel unfolds in the form of a letter that Gilbert Markham, a neighbour, writes to his friend explaining events in the village. We hear the story through his eyes. Helen, the protagonist, has moved to the neglected Wildfell Hall with her young son Arthur. She uses her mother’s maiden name, Graham. However, she is not accompanied by a man, a catalyst for rumours, despite Helen’s attempts to keep a low profile.

As Gilbert becomes acquainted with Mrs Graham and his friendship with Helen and her son grows they fall in love but must keep their distance due to Helen’s concerns about gossip, much to Gilbert’s consternation. Helen is suddenly forced to flee Wildfell Hall and the novel changes to the voice of Helen as she lends Gilbert her diary of the events in her life which lead her to flee her husband in the first place. These diary entries account for almost all of the remainder of the book.

These diary entries recount her relationship with Arthur Huntington, her husband. I was surprised by the detailed depictions of men behaving badly in the early1800s. Arthur and his friends are alcoholics most of them treat their wives very badly. The drinking and “partying” was so intense that when friends came to visit it was the the Victorian equivalent of a frat party for days or weeks. Helen also submits to emotional abuse (Arthur swearing at her, demeaning her, stealing her possessions, and destroying her art work). Add to that, an affair her husband has with a married friend of Helen’s. The stern and the pious Helen suffered her fate to live with her husband’s debauchery and ill treatment for a long time. Anne Bronte believed in redemption, as did Helen which accounts for her staying as long as she did and for “future interactions” with her husband.

Eventually , Helen leaves her husband partly for her own sake but also to protect her child from growing up like his father who has purposely taught his young son to swear and enjoy wine and hard liquor. Helen’s leaving her husband without his consent (or knowledge) is also a Victorian no no.

Helen is very relieved once she leaves her husband and so was I. The Intensity of her pious suffering was endless and hard to take. Then we get to the final part of the novel in which Gilbert takes over the narration and suffers the lengthy process of waiting to hear of Helen’s whereabouts. Months and years go by. She does not return to Wildfell Hall and he is in torment for a long time before he sets eyes on her again. This occurs at the end of the novel. Acutally, he sets eyes on the mansion in which she lives before he ever sees Helen and his heart sinks and he decides to leave. He is a farmer while Helen is wealthy and of significant social status and he believes there is no hope, given the societal norms of the day. As he is walking away, he rests a moment and Helen pulls up in her carriage. The rest I will leave to your imagination. ...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Dec 10, 2020 CarolynMarieReads rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-i-ve-read, read-books-i-own

Anne Brontë was greatly ahead of her time!
I was fascinated by her discussions on alcoholism, marriage, motherhood, loyalty, proto feminism, an emotionally cruel marriage, as well as strength in the face of hardship. I think these themes were dealt with in a way that felt very modern. At times I even felt like I was reading a contemporary book set in the Victorian period.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time not comparing Anne's writing to her sisters.
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are saturated i ...more

flag 50 likes · Like · see review

Apr 21, 2012 K.D. Absolutely rated it liked it

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: 1001-core, drama, love-story, romance, feminist, family-drama

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The tenant that is being referred to in the title of this book, The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall is not actually a tenant. She owns the place being the child of the owner. She is born there and only comes back because she is running away from her alcoholic husband. The husband is slowly introducing alcohol to their 5-y/o child and so she bangs the door to her husband’s face, runs away to her former home, the estate called Wildfell under a fictitious name. The act of a married woman running away f The tenant that is being referred to in the title of this book, The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall is not actually a tenant. She owns the place being the child of the owner. She is born there and only comes back because she is running away from her alcoholic husband. The husband is slowly introducing alcohol to their 5-y/o child and so she bangs the door to her husband’s face, runs away to her former home, the estate called Wildfell under a fictitious name. The act of a married woman running away from her husband especially with her child is against the prevailing law in England called “Married Women Property Act in 1870” that says: a wife has no independent legal existence. She cannot get separated from his husband, she cannot vote, she cannot decide alone for his kids, among others.

Anne Bronte, the youngest of the gifted Bronte sisters has the above for her storyline. It is a huge departure from Jane Eyre’s fight to be happy or Catherine Earnshaw’s defiance to against his father and brother. Bronte’s Helen Lawrence Huntingdon, a.k.a., Helen Graham, defies law and she does not give damn about it. Many English readers raised their eyebrows and others said that this was not as good as Anne Bronte's sister's (or brother because they were using male pseudonyms) Jane Eyre. However, I believe that the reason Charlotte Bronte did not want this book re-published a year after Anne Bronte died was that Charlotte was jealous.

In terms of characters, this book has a lot more than Jane Eyre and there are many sub-plots too. The main theme (the evil of alcohol abuse) is also more mature and seemed to be something that was close to the Bronte sister had since their loved one, their brother, Branwell Bronte succumbed to this vice and was the main reason for his early demise: he drank himself to death. The fight for independence that was equated to happiness during that Victorian times was pursued by Helen Graham as strong as how Jane Eyre fought for her Rochester and Anne Bronte (just like Charlotte Bronte) made sure that her plot would end up having the rightful lovers in each others' arms in the end. So, for romance lovers, this book does not disappoint.

There are also many other similarities between the two: falling from the horse, rich uncle leaving his property to his niece making the niece very rich in the end, weak male characters, protagonist taking care of the sick villain and granting forgiveness, former wrong lover dying in the end for the heroine to marry the right guy, etc. I understand that those were basic ingredients of Victorian novels and the readers then look for those in the romance novels that they read. I just thought that those many similarities are too much of a coincidence so I was less amused now compared to when I read Jane Eyre last month.

For the same reason, I thought that Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights stood tall and strong over her sister's most-known books. I only read these three just to know who was the best Bronte in my opinion. I have no doubt now that it was Emily. Wuthering is very different and so there was a rumor that Branwell helped Emily in writing it but I don't know about that.

Of course, I will still read Charlotte's other works and someday I will also read Agnes Grey. You see, kick-ass Anne, who made her character defy the English law, did not disappoint me. I also liked this book.

Thank you to my reading buddies, Ella and LS for reading this with me.

Thank you to my brother for lending his copy of the book to me.
...more

flag 47 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Obscure Readi...: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: February Reading Schedule	36	34	Jan 28, 2021 10:35AM
Wirral Libraries ...: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall	1	8	Oct 15, 2020 06:59AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Classics

5,533 users

Fiction

1,388 users

Romance

533 users

Literature > 19th Century

379 users

Historical > Victorian

272 users

Historical > Historical Fiction

253 users

European Literature > British Literature

186 users

Literature

185 users

Gothic

176 users

Classics > Classic Literature

143 users

See top shelves…

About Anne Brontë

Anne Brontë

2,336 followers

Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne's two novels, written in a sharp and ironic style, are completely different from the romanticism followed by her sisters, Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë. She wrote in a realistic, rather than a romantic style. Mainly because the re-publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was prevented by Char Anne Brontë was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family. Anne's two novels, written in a sharp and ironic style, are completely different from the romanticism followed by her sisters, Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë. She wrote in a realistic, rather than a romantic style. Mainly because the re-publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was prevented by Charlotte Brontë after Anne's death, she is less known than her sisters. However, her novels, like those of her sisters, have become classics of English literature.

The daughter of a poor Irish clergyman in the Church of England, Anne Brontë lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. In Elizabeth Gaskell's biography, Anne's father remembered her as precocious, reporting that once, when she was four years old, in reply to his question about what a child most wanted, she answered: "age and experience".

During her life Anne was particularly close to Emily. When Charlotte's friend Ellen Nussey visited Haworth in 1833, she reported that Emily and Anne were "like twins", "inseparable companions". Together they created imaginary world Gondal after they broke up from Charlotte and Branwell who created another imaginary world – Angria.

For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of 19 she left Haworth and worked as a governess between 1839 and 1845.

After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters (Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, 1846) and two novels. Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels, appeared in 1848 and was an instant, phenomenal success; within six weeks it was sold out.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is perhaps the most shocking of the Brontës' novels. In seeking to present the truth in literature, Anne's depiction of alcoholism and debauchery was profoundly disturbing to 19th-century sensibilities. Helen Graham, the tenant of the title, intrigues Gilbert Markham and gradually she reveals her past as an artist and wife of the dissipated Arthur Huntingdon. The book's brilliance lies in its revelation of the position of women at the time, and its multi-layered plot.

Her sister Emily's death on 19 December 1848 deeply affected Anne and her grief undermined her physical health. Over Christmas, Anne caught influenza. Her symptoms intensified, and in early January, her father sent for a Leeds physician, who diagnosed her condition as consumption, and intimated that it was quite advanced leaving little hope of recovery. Anne met the news with characteristic determination and self-control.

Unlike Emily, Anne took all the recommended medicines, and responded to the advice she was given. That same month she wrote her last poem, " A dreadful darkness closes in", in which she deals with being terminally ill.

In February 1849, Anne decided to make a return visit to Scarborough in the hope that the change of location and fresh sea air might initiate a recovery. However, it was clear that she had little strength left.

Dying, Anne expressed her love and concern for Ellen and Charlotte, and seeing Charlotte's distress, whispered to her to "take courage". Conscious and calm, Anne died at about two o'clock in the afternoon, Monday, 28 May 1849. ...more

Books by Anne Brontë

The Bronte Sisters - The Complete Novels + Extras

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey

The Collected Novels of the Brontë Sisters

More…

6 Great Books Hitting Shelves This Week

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day. To create our...

Trivia About The Tenant of Wil...

38 trivia questions
2 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Tenant of Wil...

“Smiles and tears are so alike with me, they are neither of them confined to any particular feelings: I often cry when I am happy, and smile when I am sad.” — 455 likes

“I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are or should be written for both men and women to read, and I am at a loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.” — 191 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Anne Brontë

Books by Anne Brontë

Related Articles

Trivia About The Tenant of Wil...

Quotes from The Tenant of Wil...

See a Problem?

Preview — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Anne Brontë

Books by Anne Brontë

Related Articles

Trivia About The Tenant of Wil...

Quotes from The Tenant of Wil...

new topic
Discuss This Book