‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ is Anne Brontë’s wildly successful and best-known novel. Written in 1848 under the pseudonym ‘Acton Bell’ (each of the Brontë sisters wrote under pen names), it proved to be the most popular book written by the three sisters during their lifetimes.
It tells the story of Helen Graham, a young woman who is courted by and marries the spoiled and self-involved Arthur Huntingdon, a charming suitor but a disastrous and cruel husband. Told through Helen’s diary entries, the reader is led through her attempts to escape this torturous union as she struggles to raise their only son.
Both controversial in its frankness and immensely popular among the reading public, ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ would sadly prove to be Anne’s final book (she died the year after it appeared in print). It is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
About the author
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) was an English novelist and poet and the youngest of a trio of legendary writers who became known as ‘the Brontë sisters.’ Each of the three siblings managed to create novels that would become classics of English literature: Charlotte’s ‘Jane Eyre, ‘ Emily’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ and Anne’s ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.’ The youngest of six children born to clergyman Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria, Anne was home-schooled after two of her older sisters died of tuberculosis which they were believed to have acquired while attending the Clergy Daughter’s School. The four surviving siblings, Branwell, Emily, Anne and Charlotte, created an imaginary world called ‘Glass Town, ‘ and would each contribute poems, stories and geographical details of this mythical place to help them escape the difficulties and isolation of their childhood and this early, escapist writing would plant the seeds for their later literary success. At the time, the idea of publishing a female author was frowned upon, thus the sisters created a pseudonymous trio of brothers – Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily) and Acton (Anne) Bell – in order to get their books into print. Anne actually completed two full novels during her brief career: ‘Agnes Grey’ and ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, ‘ but the enjoyment of their literary success was short-lived. The family suffered the deaths of Branwell, Emily and Anne in just a few short months in late 1848/early 1949 (the latter two of tuberculosis) and Charlotte herself, while struggling through her first, difficult pregnancy, died in 1854 at the age of thirty-eight. Few families in history have produced as many literary powerhouses as the Brontë sisters and their works – never out of print – have been adapted numerous times for the stage and screen.
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