Tenant of Wildfell Hall vs Party Shoes

It's depressing to be sitting in the sunshine reading a book as morose as The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and to realize I empathize so much with the protagonist ("Oh yes, I know just how that feels!"). I probably ought to stick with lightweight stuff if I want to cure my head of its ills. Unfortunately I left Noel Streatfield's "Party Shoes" at homem because I wanted to push myself a little harder to read some literature instead of good, healthy fluff.