The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Where is my head? I sat in front of my computer yesterday afternoon with a To Do list in front of me that included, "Post Book Beginnings." But I walked away and forgot to come back. Too much on my mind, apparently! Some weeks are like that. 

Thank you for joining me for this late edition of Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence or so from the book you are reading this week, or from a book that caught your fancy. 

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

You must go back with me to the autumn of 1827.

My father, as you know, was a sort of gentleman farmer in ——shire; and I, by his express desire, succeeded him in the same quiet occupation, not very willingly, for ambition urged me to higher aims, and self-conceit assured me that, in disregarding its voice, I was burying my talent in the earth, and hiding my light under a bushel.

-- from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. 

I went with two sentences to give the flavor of this Victorian classic. The narrator at the beginning of the book is the male protagonist, Gilbert Markham. The middle part of the book is narrated -- through diaries and letters -- by the heroine, Helen Graham. 

I am reading Tenant for Victober, the bookish tradition of reading Victorian books in October. This one is very good, with all then melodrama I love in a Victorian novel. It is considered one of the first feminist novels because Helen flees her bad husband and sets up house for herself as a single mother and artist, making a living by selling her paintings. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. And please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice is taking a break from her weekly blog event, The Friday 56, a natural tie in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your book, or 56% of the way through an e-book or audiobook. Many people are still posting Friday 56 teasers, even while Freda takes a break, and I will do the same. Please visit her Freda’s Voice blog even if there currently is no place to link your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Tenant of Wildfell Hall:

“I should be proud to do it, Helen!—most happy—delighted beyond expression!—and if that be all the obstacle to our union, it is demolished, and you must—you shall be mine!”

And starting from my seat in a frenzy of ardour, I seized her hand and would have pressed it to my lips, but she as suddenly caught it away, exclaiming in the bitterness of intense affliction,—“No, no, it is not all!”

See what I mean about melodrama!