Reviews

Whenever I need a break, I revert to classics. It’s like when you’re looking for real comfort – you wear your oldest/tattered but well-loved clothes at home & eat your favorite meal. At least, that’s what I do when I need some downtime.
It’s the same with books – I go looking for downtime within the classics. And when it comes to English Classics – almost everyone would be aware of the Bronte Sisters, particularly Charlotte and Emily. This novel though is written by the youngest sister Anne – and it’s a far ambitious book than her debut novel Agnes Gray.
There’s something about the books written by these sisters that grips you right from the start. It’s impossible for me to not talk about them like a collective entity but after multiple readings you realize how different their prose really is.
Anne’s prose comes across as coarse, a bit raw but truth be told it’s real & brave. I love the fact that Anne showed incredible courage in writing about the lead protagonist who leaves her abusive husband behind and starts life anew, in that era!
Although the protagonist walks through the chapters with a holier-than-thou attitude, a quick retort and snap judgement, she is admirable. The book is narrated through a letter composed by one of the protagonists to his friend & its through that we learn of the moral & social developments of the characters.
With hard topics touched such as marital rape, alcoholism etc., all in one book with such finesse and common sense with regards to the male protagonist (if you’ve read books by Charlotte & Emily, you’ll know what I mean when I say common sense), Anne has proven herself to be a literary genius.
There are a lot of values dispersed throughout the book that may feel archaic and counter productive in the modern era, but nobody can take away from the fact that Anne herself had beliefs that was far ahead of its time and its evident in the book.
What the author wrote in lieu of letters by the male protagonists was not only unheard of, but illegal. A woman in that era could not leave her husband by any means and that’s what the heroine does. She lives her deplorable life behind to regain some of her dignity and live in peace. It created such a scandal when published, selling out instantly and latter being out of publication for fear of rebuke & criticism.

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