First can I just say that I love the Brontës. Probably Emily first, then Anne, and then Charlotte. It always amazes me that these three sisters were able to write such captivating stories, all without computers or typewriters or even electricity. Imagine drafting an entire 300 page novel with a pen. By candlelight. And then having to revise and edit. Wow.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the first book I've read by Anne Brontë. I found her style to be much less reserved than that of her sister Charlotte, and somehow rougher than her sister Emily's. Anne Brontë's characters passionate, scandalous, rambunctious, violent... anything but boring.
The novel is narrated by the elderly Gilbert Markham, who is relating by letter the events of his youth for the benefit of his friend and brother-in-law. The story follows young Gilbert as he meets and falls in love with Helen Graham, a mysterious widow who takes up residence with her young son in nearby Wildfell Hall, an isolated, run-down old mansion.
The second part of the novel is told through Helen's journal, which she gives Gilbert to read so that he will understand why she cannot be with him, even though she is in love with him. With the diary comes the shocking revelation that Helen is not all that she seems...
Honestly, this book, despite having been written 162 years ago, was a page-turner for me. I neglected the three other books I was reading at the time in order to learn more about Helen and her mysterious past. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a must-read for anyone who loves dark Victorian novels or tales of mysterious fugitives.
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