The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Anne Bronte

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of few nineteenth-century novels to address alcoholism, psychological abuse, violence and the inequality of women's property rights. In a powerful psychological narrative, Anne Bronte tells the strange tale of the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Graham, the mysterious tenant of Wildfell Hall. When it was first published in 1848, Anne Bronte's second novel was attacked by the Spectator for its 'morbid love of the coarse, if not the brutal'. In her defence, Anne stated that she 'wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it'. Anne's own sister Charlotte considered the novel 'an entire mistake', and after Anne's death in 1849 she suppressed any further editions, wishing to protect her reputation from accusations of immorality. Anne Bronte challenges the reader, proving that she is a novelist in her own right and not just of interest as the youngest sister of the better known authors Charlotte and Emily.