The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Original 1848 Edition): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Original 1848 Edition), credited to Anne Brontë, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Original 1848 Edition) by Anne Brontë. Read in English by Expatriate When Helen Graham moves into old Wildfell Hall with her little son Arthur, the rustic neighborhood comes alive with gossip and speculation, particularly when saturnine Mr. Lawrence (who bears an uncanny resemblance to the child) begins to visit her clandestinely. Local gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham falls in love with her almost against his will, despite rumors that she supports herself by the work of her hands and can give no account of her origins. Only when her diary comes into Markham’s hands do we find out why she has so exiled herself. As the chapters of the diary unfold, explicit scenes of adultery, seduction, and debauchery show why the novel was so shocking when it was first published, easily outselling the more famous debut novels of the three Brontë sisters. Often called the first “feminist” novel, “Wildfell Hall” may have been most shocking for its depiction of a strong-willed, independent single mother, for its criticism of the marriage institution, and for its many passages crying out against the unfair advantages accorded to men over women. Importantly, this recording is based on the original 1848 Newby edition, not on the later, badly-mutilated version that mystifyingly continues to be the basis for modern editions advertised as “unabridged.” The novel had already been suppressed after Anne’s death by her sister Charlotte but received an even more serious injustice in 1854 when publisher Thomas Hodgson excised over sixteen thousand words, dozens of “unladylike” profanities, and numerous descriptions of dissolute male behavior, turning the Hodgson edition into a pale shadow of Anne Brontë’s original, visceral work as here presented. - Summary by Expatriate

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Original 1848 Edition)
• Author credits: Anne Brontë
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 54
• Listed recording duration: 17:04:54

Catalogue topics

• anne bronte
• victorian literature

Opening tracks: first 24 of 54

1. 00 - Vol. I: To J. Halford, Esq. — 4:05
2. 01 - Vol. I, Ch. 01: A Discovery — 23:19
3. 02 - Vol. I, Ch. 02: An Interview — 12:30
4. 03 - Vol. I, Ch. 03: A Controversy — 18:11
5. 04 - Vol. I, Ch. 04: The Party — 19:28
6. 05 - Vol. I, Ch. 05: The Studio — 9:05
7. 06 - Vol. I, Ch. 06: Progression — 17:36
8. 07 - Vol. I, Ch. 07: The Excursion — 25:09
9. 08 - Vol. I, Ch. 08: The Present — 11:23
10. 09 - Vol. I, Ch. 09: A Snake in the Grass — 24:49
11. 10 - Vol. I, Ch. 10: A Contract & a Quarrel — 10:39
12. 11 - Vol. I, Ch. 11: The Vicar Again — 10:35
13. 12 - Vol. I, Ch. 12: A Tête–à–tête & a Discovery — 21:48
14. 13 - Vol. I, Ch. 13: A Return to Duty — 9:58
15. 14 - Vol. I, Ch. 14: An Assault — 15:09
16. 15 - Vol. I, Ch. 15: An Encounter & Its Consequences — 17:41
17. 16 - Vol. I, Ch. 16: The Warnings of Experience — 26:54
18. 17 - Vol. I, Ch. 17: Further Warnings — 17:56
19. 18 - Vol. I, Ch. 18: The Miniature — 27:11
20. 19 - Vol. I, Ch. 19: An Incident — 13:24
21. 20 - Vol. II, Ch. 01: Persistence — 17:29
22. 21 - Vol. II, Ch. 02: Opinions — 10:15
23. 22 - Vol. II, Ch. 03: Traits of Friendship — 34:07
24. 23 - Vol. II, Ch. 04: First Weeks of Matrimony — 12:19

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.