The Tenant of Wildfell Hall or poet, but only as the sister of Charlotte and Emily." In 1959, two biographies were published: "Anne Brontë, her life and work" by Ada Harrison and Derek Stanford and "Anne Brontë" by Winifred Gérin. Noting that "The Tenant" was published some ten years before George Eliot's novels, Harrison and Stanford named Anne the "first realist woman writer" in Great Britain. Unlike some early critics, who considered the scenes of debauchery improbable, Harrison and Stanford believed them to be "described in a fashion which Zola might have admired." Winifred Gérin believed Helen Graham to be "one of the first married
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Purefoy starred in the second version, made in 1996. The novel was adapted as a three-act opera at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with music composed by Garrett Hope and libretto by Steven Soebbing. The University of British Columbia adaptation of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" premiered in October 2015, adapted by Jacqueline Firkins and directed by Sarah Rogers. In 2017 the novel was adapted by Deborah McAndrew and directed by Elizabeth Newman. The production opened in the Octagon Theatre, Bolton and then moved into York Theatre Royal. In the "Downton Abbey" Christmas special (2011) "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is