The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë is an epistolary novel that tells the romance of Helen Huntingdon/Graham and Gilbert Markingham. Helen married another man young, but once their relationship turned abusive, Helen left with her son. In her new place, she met Gilbert. The novel opens with him writing about why he's upset he can't have her and why she's so mysterious, and eventually Helen writes a series of letters that shares her entire story and unveils her true identity.
I liked this one because it struck me as what feminism was during the late 19th century and the Brontë sisters' lives. I feel like this book succeeded where Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, which is known for being somewhat of a feminist manifesto of her time. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it was incredibly long, and it felt longer because I was in somewhat of a reading slump at the time I read it.
This is the third Brontë sister that I've read, and I think this is my second favorite. My favorite was Jane Eyre from Charlotte and then Wuthering Heights from Emily. I liked the mystery behind Helen and how she did what she wanted, even when other people advised her not to. Some of those decisions worked out for her, and some of them didn't, but I admired her confidence in her intuition and her desires.
I read this book with my friend as a part of a classics book club that we started in 2019, and it was really fun to read all three of the Brontë sisters' works together. I definitely would recommend reading this with a friend, considering the length, so you can discuss the twists in the plot together.
Have you read any books by the Brontë sisters? Which one is your favorite?
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