While I may have read her sisters, I’d never so much as touched anything by Anne Bronte and so, on seeing a freebie for my e-reader, I figured it was time to take the plunge. But while Agnes Grey definitely has its own merits, I can also see now why Charlotte and Emily are the more well-known Brontes. I don’t know if this is due to them being better writers – Agnes Grey wasn’t rubbish by any stretch of the imagination – but I did […]
Finding arguments of no avail
I am not sure how funny this book was supposed to be, but I thought it was pretty funny. It’s kind of standard fare: she’s young and she INSISTS on leaving home to become a governess. Turns out kids are hard to deal with and she’s not very good at it. That’s ok because there’s a handsome young minister she has met literally one time who will come over and charm her and alls will be well. It’s a really short book, but it felt […]
Victorian Moralizing and Some Sisterly Snark
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is Anne Bronte’s novel about the depredations of alcohol. It is essentially a primer for the temperance movement, and yet it’s also wildly feminist for it’s time and rather snarky in some places. I wouldn’t say I loved the novel, but I enjoyed it. The novel is two stories, one about Gilbert Markham and one (the far more interesting, and lengthy story) about Helen Huntingdon. Gilbert is a young wealthy farmer, going about his wealthy farmer business when a young widow moves […]
Porn for Hufflepuffs
My favorite-ever piece published on The Toast (okay, BESIDES Roxanne Gay’s gif-laden recap of Magic Mike XXL, because, Reasons) is the one where they sort 19th Century British authors into the various Hogwarts houses. Hilarity ensues. I posted this on my Facebook feed, and instantly, my Victorian friends ran to Anne Bronte’s defense. How DARE she be Hufflepuff? She’s the best Bronte!!! Etc. I had never read anything by her, but my own sister said, “There’s a reason Anne is the least famous Bronte.” So […]