Redhill & Reigate Social Group

Our novel for March is a Victorian classic…

Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young woman who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship.

But when Helen’s reclusive behaviour becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. It’s only when she allows Gilbert to read her diary that the truth is revealed, and the shocking details of the disastrous marriage she has left behind emerge.

“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” was the second of two novels written by Anne Brontë, whose literary career was curtailed by her death at just 29 years of age. Many critics consider it to be one of the first pieces of feminist literature. It’s a powerful depiction of a woman's fight for domestic independence and creative freedom – recounted with a certain wit and irony.

The novel became a BBC TV series in three parts, made in 1996 (image above) and repeated last year on BBC1. It starred Tara Fitzgerald as Helen and Toby Stephens as Gilbert, with Rupert Graves playing the character of Arthur Huntingdon.

This is a 2002 novel, set in Victorian London.

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raises her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby also hosts a transient family of petty thieves — fingersmiths — who live in the same London slum as the children.

One day, Gentleman, who is an elegant con man, makes an enticing proposition to Sue: if she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance.

But nothing is as it seems in this novel of thrills and reversals.

The novel was adapted by the BBC as a three-part costume drama in 2005 (image above). It features Sally Hawkins as Sue Trinder and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Sucksby, with many other well-known actors and actresses such as Elaine Cassidy, Charles Dance and Patrick Troughton.