I’ll admit I’ve been on a Brontë kick this summer; heat tends to drive me toward stories about simmering characters in cooler climes, a sure recipe for a Brontë book. But, for all of my repeated readings of Charlotte Brontë‘s prose and my disaffection for sister Emily’s Wuthering Heights, I never bothered to read the work of Anne Brontë. Now, I want to bang on the front doors of all my English teachers and yell, “Why didn’t you assign her books to your courses? What were you thinking?” Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall may be the surprise sensation of my summer reading. It seems the book has always defied expectations. Published when English Women had no right to vote, own property or even have custody of their children, it’s a challenge to that “civilized” society. It dealt with issues like addiction and adultery so realistically it was a literary sensation when it was first published. It was so controversial, that sister Charlotte tried at one point to suppress the book’s being reprinted. The story’s subtitle could be “the mysterious new girl in town, ” and it’s told by Gilbert Markham, a young, rather satisfied, gentleman farmer whose family has “always” been part of the community….
My obsessions don’t make me a better person. They eat up too much time and energy and can turn me into an absolute bore but, they are part of me. I find an interesting subject and suddenly I have to know everything about it. That’s the mark of an obsessive and, as I say, it has its downfalls. But sometimes that drive yields obscure treasures. Obsession is one reason I love Daphne Du Maurier’s stories. Two of her most famous works, (Rebecca and My Cousin, Rachel) are about the mania of being haunted by a subject. And, according to at least one biography, the Du Maurier had a literary obsession that I share: the Bronte family. Trust me, this makes sense. [amazon_link asins=’1844080757′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’theboothafoly-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c56111b5-9f60-11e8-83e8-4976ecd4bd23′] The Unforgettable Bronte Siblings The Bronte sisters are a fascinating subject, whether you are studying literature or history. Three adult sisters, with minimal resources, strove to support themselves as writers, when the publishing world of publishing was pretty much closed to women. The sisters created poems and novels that often dealt with obsession. The novels become best-sellers and then literary classics, studied and loved ever since. The Bronte girls all attained incredible literary success…