Read this when
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë wrote a woman leaving her alcoholic husband with their son in 1848. Victorians were shocked. She was right. 🎨
Who it's for
Helen's diary lets the reader live through a marriage from hopeful infatuation to cruelty, drinking, affairs and humiliation, so readers in similar situations can see the pattern clearly and feel less alone.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Anne Brontë's 1848 novel, first published under the pseudonym Acton Bell, is told through Gilbert Markham's letters to a friend and the diary of Helen Graham, a mysterious widow who moves into Wildfell Hall with her young son. Helen's diary reveals her marriage to the charming but dissolute Arthur Huntingdon, whom she hoped to reform through love.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US; free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, with free LibriVox audiobooks. Also widely in print (Penguin Classics, Oxford World's Classics and others), in libraries (Libby/.
Before you start
Heads up: Alcoholism and emotional abuse.
Age: Ages 14+
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
