Speaking Volumes: A closer look at the youngest Bronte sister. She wrote novels, too

On Jan. 17, we celebrate the 200th birthday of English author and poet Anne Bronte, the youngest of the well-known Bronte sisters. Under the alias Acton Bell, Bronte wrote two powerful novels, “Agnes Grey” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” as well as numerous poems. Her lack of literary notice relative to her sisters, Emily and Charlotte, is due to a series of unfortunate circumstances that would shape Anne’s career and legacy.

Bronte was the youngest child of Irish clergyman Patrick and wife Marie. As a teenager Anne became a governess. At the same time, she began writing a novel about her experience. Anne wrote of the hardships and degradation felt by governesses through the eyes of her semi-autobiographical protagonist, Agnes Grey. Bronte worked for five years as a governess to the Robinson family. She convinced the family to employ her brother, Branwell, as a tutor to the children, not knowing this would lead to her own dismissal. Her brother ruined Anne’s reputation and career prospects as well as his own by having an affair with Mrs. Robinson. In 1845, Anne left the Robinsons to return home where she found all her other siblings living there similarly unemployed.

Once home, Anne and her sisters wrote novels and diligently sought publishers for their manuscripts. Anne completed “Agnes Grey,” Emily wrote the critically-acclaimed “Wuthering Heights,” and Charlotte wrote a novel which would go unpublished, “The Professor.” It is notable that although Anne’s novel was completed first, it was published last. It was not until after Charlotte’s next novel, also about a governess, the famed “Jane Eyre,” became a best seller that “Agnes Grey” was released. It was criticized as a poor imitation of Charlotte’s book.

Although Anne’s first novel may have been hampered by the successes of her sisters, her second novel benefited from the association. “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” has been called a revolutionary work for its descriptions of addiction, infidelity, divorce, and domestic violence. The book was not only critically acclaimed, by also sold well. Just as Anne’s career was taking off, she died at the age of 29, just a year after her novel’s publication. Her sister Charlotte, by that time a highly famed author, became the executor of her literary works. This would be a detriment to Anne’s legacy, as her sister disliked “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” and would not allow it to be republished. Despite these obstacles, new generations are starting to praise and study Anne Bronte’s small collection of works and give posthumous accolades to the youngest of the Brontes.

Your Manatee libraries have several copies of Anne Bronte’s “Agnes Grey” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” including digital copies via the Hoopla app. The library also has on DVD the 1996 BBC miniseries adaptation of “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”

Speaking Volumes, written by Manatee County Public Library System staff members, is published each Sunday. Katie Fleck is a librarian at the Central Library in downtown Bradenton. For more information, go to www.mymanatee.org/library