The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

By: Anne Brontë

Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Jenny Agutter

Fleeing a disastrous marriage, Helen Huntingdon retreats to the desolate mansion, Wildfell Hall, with her son, Arthur. There, she makes her living as a painter. Finding it difficult to avoid her neighbors, she is soon an object of speculation and gossip. Brontë portrays Helen's eloquent struggle for independence at a time when society defined a married woman as her husband's property.

Public Domain (P)2015 AudioGO

A really excellent audio version

I’m the sort of person who had tried to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall once upon a time, before life and other things got in the way and I sort of forgot about it. Honestly this audio book was the best thing to get me back at it again. Where reading the book myself was sometimes a bit tedious, I thoroughly enjoyed having it read to me. I definitely recommend this version to anyone interested in the story. It’s a nice long one for if you do a lot of commuting and the story is, while not always the most exciting, very enjoyable. The two narrators do a good job of helping distinguish between a large cast of characters, and are never dull or monotonous to listen to.

Another woman too willing to sacrifice her life

Not so long ago I read the statement by an author, in The New York Times Book Review column "By the Book" that in his opinion this is the best book of all the books by the Bronte sisters. So I added it to my list and listened to it. The story starts out intriguing and the writing is excellent. The performance is excellent. But it turns into one more 19th century story (and I love 19th century literature) about a woman who is willing to sacrifice herself - she'd almost die on a cross - for some kind of distorted sense of loyalty and duty to a man who wronged her and abuses her. We need more women who defy these expectations of a "good Christian" woman. They do exist.
That being said, there are some aspects of how she ended up in that circumstance that still resonate today: women who get too easily taken in by charm and good looks, and end up in bad relationships, and the shame - and many women still suffer that sense of shame in their communities - of admitting to family that you made a mistake, and even that the advice against the man should have been taken (though the alternatives in Helen's case were not very enticing). And then, of course, there are still today women who have no simple means to get out of a bad marriage, whether because their religion forbids it, their religion makes it difficult, or the community they are in makes it difficult. There are still good-for-nothing (and also abusive) men out there, and women would do well to be careful about who they commit themselves to, and protect themselves financially.
Finally, I don't agree with that author interviewed in "By the Book" - though the book is good, I don't think it is the best of the Bronte sisters' books that I have read (or listened to).

Passions 200 years ago

Passions 200 years ago are not much different than todays, just the pace is much much slower.

Such a pleasure to listen to

Alex Jennings is a Master performer. I believe Anne Bronte would be very pleased! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Long as it is, Ive mind to start it all over again

Rich, Heartrendering, Delightful, Awe-fully Good.

Im very glad to have it in my library! There's tension and beauty, density and light sweet, delicacies in this book which is, by numbers of words is revealing matters of depravity, degradation. Its is long but not slow reading as the story drives one to read on to drive on to reprieves along the way. Never dull. Expect high and varied emotions, interesting characters and living personalities. I will come back again for re-readung and listening. Im sure.