The Stranger from Wildfell Hall

Anne — the youngest of the three Brontë sisters, died at 29, having written only two novels. The Stranger from Wildfell Hall is the boldest novel of its time. It daringly raises the question of a woman's position in the family. Should one endure life with a domestic tyrant for the sake of the child? Is it possible to find the strength to leave a man who is degrading from alcoholism? And is it finally possible to experience the long-sought happiness? Agnes Grey is written in the popular genre of the mid-19th century — a novel about a governess. The story, in which dreams come true, patience and virtue are rewarded, is largely autobiographical. Unlike her famous sisters, Charlotte and Emily, Anne Brontë writes soberly and realistically, showing aspects of reality that were usually silenced in England at her time — about drunkenness and what a drunken person is capable of; about divorce and a wife's departure from a tyrant husband. She earned her living through hard work and passionately wrote about the oppression of women in society. She was not afraid to horrify critics with plausible descriptions of marital quarrels and to unfold very daring plots on the pages of her novels. She set herself one goal — simply to tell the truth, for the truth always provides a lesson. In her books, one cannot find romantic depictions of heroes, only uncompromising descriptions of life, even when it is unappealing. A life from which one can see a way out.