It is the second and final novel by English author Anne Brontë, published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, this novel had an instant phenomenal success but after Anne's death, her sister Charlotte prevented its re-publication.The novel is framed as a letter from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about the events leading to his meeting his wife.It mainly tells the story about a mysterious young widow and her dark secrets. This novel of marital betrayal is set within a moral framework tempered by Anne's optimistic belief in universal salvation.

Anne Bronte （17 January 1820 – 28 May 1850) was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.Mainly because the re-publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was prevented by Charlotte Brontë after Anne's death, she is less known than her sisters Charlotte, author of four novels including Jane Eyre, and Emily, author of Wuthering Heights. However, her novels, like those of her sisters, have become classics of English literature.