Book review: The Woman Who Ran

WHEN Helen Graham arrives in a remote Yorkshire village as the new tenant of dilapidated Wildfell estate, she immediately provokes suspicion among her inquisitive neighbours, especially retired journalist Gil Markham.

Sam Baker

HarperCollins, €10.30;

ebook, €6.45

It’s when Gil discovers that Helen is wanted by French police in connection to a house fire in Paris that is believed to have killed her husband, his interest turns into obsession.

The Woman Who Ran is a clever modernisation of Anne Bronte’s feminist classic The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall, that is intriguing to start and utterly gripping towards the end.

Helen is without a doubt the standout feature of the novel; multi-dimensional and resilient, she makes the ideal feminist heroine for the modern-day reader.

Sam Baker manages to masterfully unravel a story of trauma, abuse, and devastation to expose the need to confront painful truths in order to rebuild and survive.