The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Helen's diary; and in turn, Helen's diary includes Arthur's autobiographical reminiscences. Anne Brontë starts her novel in a social comedy manner, reminiscent of Jane Austen. Like "Pride and Prejudice", "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" starts with the arrival of a new person in a neighbourhood — a source of curiosity for a small rural community. Unlike Austen, Brontë makes a woman the center of interest. Reticent Mrs. Graham with her views on alcohol consumption and girls’ education, controversial for the 19th century, soon becomes an outcast. Tess O'Toole calls "The Tenant" "the most unusual example of 19th century domestic fiction",
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and attributes to that the relative marginalization of the novel in the Brontë sisters' oeuvre. According to O’Toole, Anne, unlike her elder sisters, seems to juxtapose rather than to collapse kinship and sexual relations. The relationship between Frederick and Helen is insular and cannot solve all the problems or contradictions that cluster around the concept of the domestic. Helen's retreat from her husband is followed by a return to her natal family origins, symbolized by her return to the home in which she was born, and adoption of her mother’s maiden name as her alias. The relationship between Helen and