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A review by amandakirs
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
5.0
I am not sure why this book is not more famous. It is definitely on par with Jane Eyre, and in my opinion, second best of all the Bronte books, even over the more celebrated Wuthering Heights. It's written in a interesting semi-epistolary form and has the beautiful language and description typical of the Bronte books as well as a good deal of scandal (for her day) and feminist leaning (far preceding her day), all embedded in the constant struggle between good and evil which leaves no character unscathed. But it doesn't feel didactic or preaching--the character development is good, and the mysterious nature of some of them keeps the pages turning.
For the record, Charlotte Bronte did not approve of Anne's subject choice. She writes "'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Acton Bell, had likewise an unfavorable reception. At this I cannot wonder. The choice of subject was an entire mistake. Nothing less congruous with the writer's nature could be conceived. The motives which dictated this choice were pure, but, I think, slightly morbid. She had, in the course of her life, been called on to contemplate, near at hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused and faculties abused: hers was a naturally a sensitive, reserved and dejected nature; what she saw sank very deeply into her mind; it did her harm. She brooded over it till she believed it to be a duty to reproduce every detail (of course with fictitious characters, incidents, situations), as a warning to others. She hated her work, but would pursue it. When reasoned with on the subject, she regarded such reasonings as a temptation to self-indulgence. She must be honest; she must not varnish, soften, nor conceal."
(Written by Charlotte in an appendix to Agnes Grey)
For the record, Charlotte Bronte did not approve of Anne's subject choice. She writes "'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Acton Bell, had likewise an unfavorable reception. At this I cannot wonder. The choice of subject was an entire mistake. Nothing less congruous with the writer's nature could be conceived. The motives which dictated this choice were pure, but, I think, slightly morbid. She had, in the course of her life, been called on to contemplate, near at hand, and for a long time, the terrible effects of talents misused and faculties abused: hers was a naturally a sensitive, reserved and dejected nature; what she saw sank very deeply into her mind; it did her harm. She brooded over it till she believed it to be a duty to reproduce every detail (of course with fictitious characters, incidents, situations), as a warning to others. She hated her work, but would pursue it. When reasoned with on the subject, she regarded such reasonings as a temptation to self-indulgence. She must be honest; she must not varnish, soften, nor conceal."
(Written by Charlotte in an appendix to Agnes Grey)