Anne Brontë: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Hi

This is my second to last novel by one of the Brontë sisters!
The novel has 383 pages and a 16-page introduction.

“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerful and sometimes violent novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin, religion and betrayal. It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Huntingdon, the mysterious ‘tenant’ of the title, and her dissolute, alcoholic husband. Defying convention, Helen leaves her husband to protect their young son from his father’s influence, and earns her own living as an artist. Whilst in hiding at Wildfell Hall, she encounters Gilbert Markham, who falls in love with her.”

*SPOILERS*

Helen might be the first women in fiction to take her rights into her own hands. She flees an abusive husband and shows incredible strength and courage in doing so. This in a time where a wife’s role was to please her husband.
And then the dimwit goes back to nurse him! After everything he has done to her. She is that stupid.

You can only feel admiration for Anne because of her frankness and courage to write this novel. It must have been a whirlwind once it was published.

But the story is so incredibly boring! It took me ages and ages to get through the book.
The characters are totally Good or Evil.
Next to nothing happens.
This book set my teeth on edge. No idea why I finished it.

Happy reading!
Helena