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

Why didn't we get to read this one at school

What a treat to read this so late in life. As good as Shirley and these two are so less known and read by teenage girls not to mention being turned into movies. Loved the narrators.

Wonderful performance, but chapters are mislabeled

Overall, a wonderful performance and story. The one thing that irked me about this edition, however, was that the chapters are mislabeled. It made it quite difficult to keep track of where you were in the story and to set a timer for pausing.

highly recommended

This is an inspiring and beautifully written book and one I will probably re-read, as fresh today as when it was written over 150 years ago; English prose at it's height. The narration is as well superb. This ranks with Jane Eyre as one of my all-time favourites.

Well done

I enjoyed this recitation of Anne Bronte’s classic. I was a rapt listener and wholly relished the narrative.

Performance well done; monotonous storyline at times.

This marks my first endeavor with Anne Bronte. The performance was nicely done. The voices are pleasant and clear and assist in the magic that is literature. The story itself was unfortunately both predictable and monotonous at times. The husband is an alcoholic tyrant wreaking evil upon his Christian wife. That the wife escapes the husband's clutches is miraculous and worthy of a true heroine; that she returns to him when he is injured is her penultimate martyrdom and is rather the last straw in ones ability to admire her and bear up to the relentless hardship of her marriage--her self appointed martyrdom is a stomach turner. Still, it does shed light on 19th century upper class marriage. And while a bit lengthy, it does give a harrowing account of alcoholism and the hell of living with one so afflicted.

Good listen

I found the love story kept me on the edge of my seat, but the male reader whispered too much.

Completely enjoyable

This literary work was not only enjoyable but consuming for the reader in its character development and turn of the narrative. I will miss the characters and their stories. Thank you for an excellent read.

Another Bronte favorite

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gilbert Markham, a very human hero, for his acceptance and support of Mrs. Graham and her young son in spite of the community's turning against her, and for his patience.

Which character – as performed by Alex Jennings and Jenny Agutter – was your favorite?

Alex Jennings as Gilbert Markham. Mr. Jennings was a wonderful narrator. Until The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I had only listened to books with female narrators, and, I have to admit, I wasn't sure if I would like a male narrator speaking the female dialogue. But his voicing of the female roles, even Helen Graham, was subtle and well-done.

Jenny Agutter's narration of Helen Graham's letters in the middle of the book was just fine, but she didn't distinguish between the characters as much as Mr. Jennings, and sometimes her narration was just slightly clunky, thought still very fine once I got used to it and when I was immersed in the story. If just Mr. Jennings had narrated, I would have given the performance 5 stars.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - too long for that!

Any additional comments?

I've read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and the BBC adaptation is one of my favorites, so I looked forward to listening. I hadn't remembered the way the BBC series departed from the original story, and not having read the novel for a number of years, the audiobook was almost new to me in parts! This is another great audiobook - recommend it to fans of the Bronte's novels.

Great, but Mislabeled Chapter

A wonderful Brontë novel, but this particular version has the chapters mislabeled, making it hard to keep track of where you are.

MIssing chunks of the book: abridged by stealth

What did you like best about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? What did you like least?

The best thing is that the original book is excellent.

Any additional comments?

The reading is missing a number of chunks of the book. I became extremely annoyed and just read the book. I feel cheated.
MIssing sections:
Chaper 30 is missing the sixth-last paragraph:
I was perfectly willing to avail myself of this permission,....for I had not much that was pleasant to communicate.
Chapter 37 has been excised almost in its entirety. At this point, I gave up on the Audible book, feeling quite cheated.
Certainly, if more Audible books are trimmed in this way, I will announce this fact widely.