About Helen
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a challenge for several reasons, and one of the greatest was working with the character of Helen Graham. Not only was she a character I hadn’t created myself, she was completely different from any other heroine I had written.
Helen Graham is both a woman of her time and one with shockingly modern opinions. To look at, she is simple and unassuming – a pretty, dark-haired woman dressed in modest mourning clothes, the mother of a young child whom she dotes on. However, as we see when we enter her diary, this quiet surface conceals a passionate nature.
Helen is a deeply moral woman with a strong religious feeling (although one which went against the opinions of the time – universal salvation) – certainly not someone to have sex before marriage, so I made sure to keep this part of her character true. Her need for love – she has been abandoned by her father to an aunt and uncle – draws her to her charismatic yet dissolute husband, but her moral code leads her to flee from him when he proves to be adulterous and alcoholic: something which horrified readers of the time, who would have argued that she was an ungodly wife and an unfit mother. Yet the sacrifices she makes for her child prove that, whatever else, she puts him first.
How to stay in character when adding erotic scenes to the story? There are a number of intense scenes in the original which could easily be developed, but it was most important that Helen wait until marriage for full intercourse. Once she was married, I had the fun of deflowering her at the hands of a seductive rake who, as the story progressed, introduced her gradually to more and more adventurous forms of pleasure… while still leaving some things for the true hero, Gilbert, to discover with her…
Anne Bronte was capable of writing passionate love scenes and I believe would have not have shied away from more explicit writing had it been acceptable at the time. Whether she would have written the scenes I have remains open to question – but I hope I have done her justice.
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The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Tanith Davenport and Anne Bronte
Tanith Davenport and Anne Bronte
Genre: Erotic romance
Publisher: Total-e-Bound
Date of Publication: 6 September 2013
ISBN: 978-1-78184-444-1
Cover Artist: Posh Gosh
Into the quiet village of Lindenhope comes Helen Graham, an attractive young widow and mother. Living alone with her son at Wildfell Hall, her seclusion attracts curiosity from the local people, in particular Gilbert Markham, whose interest in her is soon edged with desire—and Helen, despite herself, begins to reciprocate his love for her.
But when scandalous rumours begin to circulate about Helen’s behaviour, Gilbert is filled with anger and jealousy. Helen attempts to clear her name by offering Gilbert her diary, which reveals the dark, passionate story of her former marriage to debauched rake Arthur Huntingdon, whose sexual and sensual desires fill her with excitement and pleasure but precipitate a gradual descent into hell.
Gilbert believes he could forgive her anything, but the lies continue to spread, threatening Helen’s peace of mind and, above all, her physical safety. Will the secrets of Helen’s past get in the way of their future?
About the Author:
Tanith Davenport began writing erotica at the age of 27 by way of the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme. Her debut novel "The Hand He Dealt" was released by Total-e-Bound in June 2011 and was shortlisted for the Joan Hessayon Award for 2012.
Tanith has had short stories published by Naughty Nights Press and House of Erotica. She loves to travel and dreams of one day taking a driving tour of the United States, preferably in a classic 1950s pink Cadillac Eldorado.
Tanith's idea of heaven is an Indian head massage with a Mojito at her side.
1 comments:
Thanks for having me on here!
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