Reviews of three books I’ve read recently.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
This romance novel from 1848 begins with Gilbert Markham, the male protagonist, telling how he saves a small boy from falling off a high wall. The boy’s mother, the widowed Mrs. Helen Graham, sees him do this; but instead of thanking Gilbert, she treats him coldly and with suspicion. Nevertheless — or perhaps precisely because she treats him so badly — Gilbert falls in love with Mrs. Graham, abandons his previous sweetheart, and pursues this mysterious widow despite her attempts to keep him at arms’ length. So ends the first part of the book. Gilbert manages to portray himself as weak-willed and foolish, and thus not the typical hero of a romance novel.
The second part of the book consists of entries from Helen Graham’s diary, whose real name turns out to be Helen Lawrence Huntington. Helen has given this diary to Gilbert so he can understand her better. In the diary, Helen tells how she fell in love with Arthur Huntingdon, a weak-willed and unscrupulous man. She foolishly marries him. To her astonishment — but not to ours — after their marriage, Arthur reveals himself to be abusive, irrational, domineering, and nasty. Helen puts up with him until she sees that their son is beginning to imitate his father. This she cannot stand, so she flees the marriage with her son, and hides in the country under an assumed name, where she meets Gilbert Markham. So ends the second part. Will her life improve in the third part?
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