Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Wordsworth Classics)

First of all, I'm a big fan of 19th century Victorian British literature. I love Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, and so on. Unfortunately, this novel by Anne Bronte has not been given its due. It has definitely taken a back seat to her sisters more famous novels, the eldest Bronte, Charlotte's "Jane Eyre," and the middle sisters, Emily's "Wuthering Heights." Anne died very young of illness in her early 20s, and Emily died too, around the same time. Apparently her surviving older sister, Charlotte had the idea that Anne had written an offensive, inappropriate, and possibly embarrassing book, so she suppressed it. Charlotte seems to have believed that Anne had no authority to write on the subject matter, which delves into some dark places, including just about every kind of human abuse - spousal, emotional, physical, child, drug, alcohol, financial, and even animal cruelty. Apparently for these reasons, Charlotte blocked further publications of Anne's major novel, posthumously, for some time. Also, once it finally resurfaced, sadly, apparently it was largely rewritten by male writers, unauthorized, and what we have today is probably not exactly as Anne Bronte intended, but we can only hope that enough of her story and her personal touch remains. A woman leaving an abusive husband is not so shocking or unusual in terms of today's standards, but in Victorian times, it was not just frowned on and shocking, it was illegal for a woman to leave her husband for ANY reason, or to live off her own income or labor. At that time, unfortunately for all women, the law in Britain still followed the Napoleonic Code, which said that women were basically sub-human, in the same category as children, and mental incompetents. Women had no legal rights to speak of, but that soon began to change for the better, as laws reformed. Nevertheless, our heroine reaches her limits, and at last rebels against her cruel, belittling, abusive husband, for the sake of her child, and they flee. There is a lot of excitement in the story, and twists in the plot. It seems to me, true to life, as far as spousal abuse, and other dysfunctional forms of human relationships. Apparently Anne may have gotten some of her ideas of dysfunctional relationships from observing her brother, who seemed to have substance abuse problems, and her experiences observing the lives of the very wealthy through her time working in aristocratic homes, as a governess. These experiences probably informed her creation of our aristocratic, proud, uncompromising, talented, highly intelligent, but rebellious heroine. However, Anne's personal experiences alone could not have produced this surprising, dark, and unusual story, which in many ways is ahead of its time. Apparently Anne had skill in story telling, and great imagination. This novel has tons of romance and love, darkness and intrigue, and surprising twists and turns.

Have you been going through all the classics, more specifically the Brontë sisters’ novels, and stumbled upon this one? It is very underrated! You won’t regret it!

Cute edition

This edition has so many typos it's quite difficult to read. It seems a printed copy was scanned by OCR software, but without any attempt at correcting the inevitable errors.

How to review the incomparable Brontes? If you are seeking a Bronte novel which will stand the test of Wuthering Heights (Jane Eyre is second, let's admit), read this. Anne tackles the morality of whether a man who is presumably engaged to another woman should be permitted to fall in love with a married neighbor who is estranged from her husband. In the usual Bronte persuasive fashion, the reader despises the superficial judgments immediately placed by society upon the married female despite her actions for good. This writing also achieves an excellent contrast between the drawing-room picture presented by other authors of the same period versus the reality acknowledged by those with deeper emotions, intellect, capacity, and insight. An easier read than WH, and shorter than JE, but worth an introspective afternoon or two.

Didn't like the book but no fault with/of Amazon!

Arrived in great condition and on time. I've only read a little bit of it so far and from what i've read it seems like it's going to be a very interesting book. Only issue i've been having with it is the I guess you could call it the "lingo" of it, the wording of it. It was published in the 1840's and going by the wording of it they haven't updated the wording to current standards, which I don't mind since changing it would ruin it. It's interesting so far but if you're not used to reading books written and worded in past centuries "lingo" which i'm not as much as i'd like to be I wouldn't recommend it. You end up spending more time trying to decode it and read out words you've never heard of before then reading the actual story. That's been my problem anyways. But I really respect Anne for being brave enough and not caring enough to write and publish this in a time when woman were seen as objects to be owned and not being able to have a voice. I respect any female writer period from that time for writing, they went completely against the social standards for the time (even illegal ones) and I have nothing but the upmost respect for them. It's women like her who paved the way for the life we as woman have now, it's not perfect by any means but compared to how woman were treated back then it's no comparison.

I'm a big fan of Bronte, Austen and their contemporaries but had not heard of this until it was recommended to me. It was scandalous at the time in the way it portrayed, in detail, one man's descent into alcoholism and his abuse of his wife and child. His wife, the main character, decides to escape with her son, an almost unheard of undertaking in the days when divorce was generally not allowed and any woman attempting to leave her abusive husband was considered adulterous and shunned by society. Considered to be feminist literature, to me it's a story of a courageous woman who beats the odds and frees herself from the hell that her marriage became. It does have a happy ending, though it feels like a small recompense for all that happened. It had an important message then and an equally important message now for men and women everywhere.

Under-rated - a classic tale and absolutely worth reading.

a capa é bem molinha msm, e a fonte eh pequena. mas pelo preco ta otimo! eh uma edicao linda

Una verdadera delicia literaria, que me ha hecho querer a las hermanas Brontë y especialmente a Anne aún más que antes. ¿Cómo una obra tan simple en su argumento puede ser tan interesante, fascinante y dulce? Y hay que tener en cuenta que en una buena parte de la obra, Anne Brontë deja que se escuche directamente la voz de una mujer en la época victoriana que dejó a su marido porque era abusivo y malo con ella.Es la misma inquilina de Wildfell Hall que empieza a narrar su historia. Eso es algo extraordinario para aquella época y tan sólo por eso merece la pena leer el libro. Una de las mejores obras de la literatura victoriana. La recomiendo sin duda.

Anne Brontë è forse la meno ricordata delle sorelle Brontë, nonostante le sue opere fossero al pari delle più famose Charlotte (Jane Eyre) ed Emily (Wuthering Heights). Questo romanzo tratta di temi come l'amore, l'oppressione, la religione e il tradimento, attraverso il fallimento del matrimonio di Helen Huntingdon e un marito dissoluto e alcolizzato, cercando di farsi una nuova vita lontano da lui e di salvare suo figlio dalla sua influenza negativa. Una storia che parla di un'eroina coraggiosa, ma che nel 1848 fu definita come volgare e brutale, poiché fu uno dei primi romanzi (assieme a Jane Eyre) a contestare le convenzioni sociali dell'epoca Vittoriana, cercando di dare una voce all' "Angelo del focolare" che in altre opere dell'epoca doveva subire in silenzio tutto ciò che gli veniva imposto dalla società, alle volte anche le angherie di un marito imposto dalla classe sociale o le circostanze. Un tema che ancora oggi risuona tantissimo nella nostra società. Paradossalmente la stessa Charlotte Bronte considerò quest'opera come un "errore", non riuscendo a vederne la modernità, nonostante anch'essa si prodigava per dare una voce alle donne della sua epoca e, che, in qualche modo, da voce anche a quelle contemporanee. Consigliatissimo!

This book is great. I buy the 2nd hand version but the quality is good for the considering the price.