The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

This Victorian classic (394 pages) was published in January of 1970 by Wordsworth Editions. The book takes you to a manor house in England. Melissa read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and loved it; it wouldn't be on our site if she didn't recommend it.

amazon
buy
bookshop.org
buy

Bookshop.org is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support independent bookstores and give back to the book community.

rule

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë, Peter Merchant

Anne sometimes seems doomed to be the forgotten Brontë sister, but this novel is essential reading: Most literary critics hail it as one of the first feminist novels.

It also happens to be a rollicking good read.

The story centers on Helen Graham, a woman struggling for independence and a safe, happy life for her son. She is — for reasons that will become abundantly, painfully clear — on the run from a shady past, and she takes up residence in the previously neglected Wildfell Hall.

Helen is a vexing and beguiling riddle to the townspeople, the object of intense curiosity and judgment. She soon becomes a favorite topic for tongue-wagging over tea. Beautiful, but unmarried, distant and laconic, she’s an artist who sells her own paintings to make a living… how dare she?

Unlike Thornfield in Jane Eyre and the titular estate in Wuthering Heights, Wildfell Hall is not haunted by ghosts or memories, but it is damp, unwelcoming, in disarray — a reflection of the town’s attitude toward Helen and Helen’s own state of mind when she arrives. Even the garden has given way to weeds, and a boxwood shrub carved into a swan ‘had lost its neck and half its body.’

The structure of the novel–essentially a long letter broken up with excerpts from a personal diary — gives it a touching intimacy and immediacy. Through the words of a potential suitor and Helen herself, we learn about the bitter events that brought her to Wildfell. Anne Brontë’s writing style is a little more accessible than her sisters’, and much of this novel feels quite modern.

Helen, our struggling heroine, is equal parts 19th-century stick-in-the-mud and badass role model: courageous, honest, determined, and self-contained. She’s a strong lady who is resolute in her pursuit of the life she knows she deserves, and that makes her a timeless heroine.

Near the top of this hill, about two miles from Linden-Car, stood Wildfell Hall, a superannuated mansion of the Elizabethan era, built of dark grey stone, venerable and picturesque to look at, but doubtless, cold and gloomy enough to inhabit, with its thick stone mullions and little latticed panes, its time-eaten air-holes, and its too lonely, too unsheltered situation — only shielded from the war of wind and weather by a group of Scotch firs, themselves half blighted with storms, and looking as stern and gloomy as the Hall itself. — Anne Brontë

keep reading

In literature (and life), a home is often seen as a reflection of a person's status, motivation and values — a nifty shorthand for conveying character. The stately manors in these six classics speak volumes.
Private schools can be like a psychology experiment about what happens when you jam x-number of kids into an enclosed environment and crank up the stress. It's agony for the characters, and such good fun for us.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got 'dysfunctional' heroines, the power of book inscriptions, counting penguins in Antarctica, bioluminescent tourism, and more.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got a tough travel quiz, chilly winter thrillers, a guide to Persepolis, a Frankenstein book club, Vietnamese cuisine, and more.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got sweet Wes Anderson-inspired cafés, Armenian food in LA, the eerie boat-house from 'Rebecca,' easy travel journaling, and more.
Every Friday, we share our favorite book- and travel-related links. This week, we've got essays from Aminatta Forna, walrus sightings, Iranian hotels, a seafaring brooch, a funny homage to Anne Brontë, and more.
Literary mysteries abound in this smart, suspenseful love letter to literature set at Oxford University. Our heroine Samantha has known too much tragedy for her young age, and her life is about to be upended again.
This weekend, travel back in time in Yorkshire and meet Helen Graham, a surprisingly independent woman who finds herself stuck in the social mores of the Victorian age — until she forges her own path to happiness.
In this Gothic mystery novel set on the snowy moors of Yorkshire, the Brontë sisters take a break from writing poetry to poke their overly-curious noses into the dark history surrounding a hidden bundle of bones.
Imagine a world where the Brontë sisters take a break from writing their groundbreaking novels and set out across the moors to solve a murder mystery. Then rejoice, because author Bella Ellis has created that world.
In real life, dark secrets and potentially perilous passageways might best be avoided. But on the page, is anything more delicious than the tingle up the back of the neck that says an adventure is about to begin?

sharing is caring!

Wanna help us spread the word? If you like this page, please share with your friends.

our mission

Strong Sense of Place is a website and podcast dedicated to literary travel and books we love. Reading good books increases empathy. Empathy is good for all of us and the amazing world we inhabit.

our patreon

Strong Sense of Place is a listener-supported podcast. If you like the work we do, you can help make it happen by joining our Patreon! That'll unlock bonus content for you, too — including Mel's secret book reviews and Dave's behind-the-scenes notes for the latest Two Truths and a Lie.

get our newsletter

Join our Substack to get our FREE newsletter with podcast updates and behind-the-scenes info — and join in fun chats about books and travel with other lovely readers.

no spoilers. ever.

We'll share enough detail to help you decide if a book is for you, but we'll never ruin plot twists or give away the ending.

super-cool reading fun
reading atlas

This 30-page Reading Atlas takes you around the world with dozens of excellent books and gorgeous travel photos. Get your free copy when you subscribe to our newsletter.

get our newsletter
Sign up for our free Substack!
follow us

Content on this site is ©2024 by Smudge Publishing, unless otherwise noted. Peace be with you, person who reads the small type.