The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

By: Anne Brontë

Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Jenny Agutter

Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Exclusively from Audible

The story of a woman's struggle for independence from an abusive husband. Helen 'Graham' has returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage and to protect her young son from the influence of his father.

Exiled to the desolate moorland mansion, she adopts an assumed name and earns her living as a painter. Gilbert Markham, a local man intrigued by the beautiful young 'widow' offers his friendship but becomes distrustful when her reclusive behaviour sparks rumours and speculation. When she offers her diary for him to read only then does he discover the dark truth of her shocking past.

The second and last novel written by Anne Brontë, the youngest of the six Brontë children, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall deals with alcoholism, physical and emotional abuse, unhappy marriages and adultery. Anne's novels are distinctly different from that of her sisters, filled with gritty realism. After her death, Anne's sister, Charlotte, prevented its republication perhaps due to her belief that it was overly graphic and an 'entire mistake'.

Despite first being published in 1848, The Independent described it as a 'frighteningly up-to-date tale of single motherhood and wife-battering.' It is considered one of the more shocking of the Brontë stories and due to Helen's breaking of social convention and law holds firm as one of the first feminist novels.

Narrator Biography

Three-time Olivier Award winner actor Alex Jennings is known for portraying Prince Charles in The Queen (2006) as well as appearing in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Babel (2006) and The Lady in the Van (2015). His television work has included Cranford (2007), Silk (2011-2014), and Victoria (2016). He has narrated many audiobooks including Charlie Connelly's Attention All Shipping, which in 2008 was chosen as one of the top 40 audiobooks of all time.

Jenny Agutter began her acting career as a child in 1964's East of Sudan and is well known for appearing in three adaptations of The Railway Children. She starred in the critically acclaimed 1971 film Walkabout as well as receiving a string of Hollywood roles. She won an Emmy for her role in The Snow Goose (1971), as well as a BAFTA for her role in Equus (1997). More recently she has appeared in several television dramas, including Spooks (2002-2003), and Call the Midwife since 2012. She has performed in numerous theatre productions, including roles with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has also narrated audiobooks Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle and Jane Austen's Emma and featured in the Doctor Who audio dramas The Bride of Peladon and The Minister of Chance. In 2012 she was appointed OBE for her charity work.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc

Loved this!

This was beautifully done. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I will definitely be listening again

Timeless novel with excellent narration

What about Alex Jennings and Jenny Agutter ’s performance did you like?

The performances of Alex Jennings and Jenny Agutter were excellent and did much to bring this novel to life!

Highly recommendable

Any additional comments?
I very much enjoyed this story. It may not be as well known as the stories of the two other Bronte sisters, but the quality of the story telling is quite superb. I highly recommend this book to all listeners who enjoy authors like Bronte and Austen. Both narrators does an excellent job and together they make this book a most enjoyable listen.

EXCELLENT!!!

This is another great story a Bronte sister. Such a great meditation on the end of life.

Perfect Rendition Wildfell Hall

Sterling performances by both readers, truly pitch-perfect. I will be looking for more audiobooks read by these two performers.

I loved it, but…

I fairly enjoyed listening to the narrators tell this story, however, I was following along with the physical copy as well since it helps me understand the story better and what I found is that multiple sections throughout the book were erased in this audiobook! It was so frustrating because I had to actually read through these sections on my own. I’m a very slow reader and with classics like this one, I read even slower because of the fact that it’s so detailed and my mind tends to drift often. So whenever these sections were absent, I couldn’t help but get annoyed. Otherwise, I loved the story and the narration from both were great :)

Another wonderful listen

This book was alot of fun. I loved the characters. Both narrators did a great job, but I especially liked Jenny Agutter. Her voice is beautiful and she did the characters very nicely. The story is lovely.

Perfect performances!!

Would you listen to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall again? Why?

Yes. The narration was so compelling--Alex Jennings and Jenny Agutter complimented one another perfectly. That alone will bring me back to this rendition. But the story itself is also very compelling. It is a shame that it is often overlooked by modern audiences. Ironically, the issues it addresses are more relevant today than many other highly praised gothic novels.

What other book might you compare The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to and why?

In my mind, it is on equal footing with the more highly touted books of her sisters, Emily & Charlotte Bronte (Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre).

Gotta love the Bronte sisters

If you could sum up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in three words, what would they be?

Victorian, moralistic, classic

Who was your favorite character and why?

Helen, for her strength of purpose.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not just one moment, but many where the plight of Victorian women made me thankful for the freedom that women enjoy today.

Any additional comments?

I'm just catching up on all of the Bronte books that I haven't read yet. Not because they are so great but because they are the classics and I'm a fan of Jane Eyre.

Missing Parts

I read along with this book and found that parts of it had been cut. Though it’s not uncommon to cut a line or two, paragraphs and full conversation where missing. At one point a chapter was cut with the exception of one paragraph. Maybe it was recorded from a later addition but it was still weird. Performance was great despite everything. I would buy it again.