In all, PEN found 11,982 cases of bans, affecting 7,370 individual works. Over 4,500 were on the list for the first time, ranging from the 19th century classic “Jane Eyre” to Sui Ishida's “Tokyo Ghoul” manga series.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights is not a cozy fall novel. It is dark and gloomy in atmosphere, and the themes it explores are incredibly introspective. Much of it is tragic, and the parts that aren’t are usually brutal. Despite all of that, Wuthering Heights is one of the first gothic novels, and there is never a better time to read gothic novels than October. Wuthering Heights is about a toxic love across social boundaries. Since it crosses social boundaries, Catherine, the main female protagonist, makes a choice against her heart that damns everyone around her, including herself. None of the characters are particularly likeable, and yet their story reveals to the reader many lessons and morals to follow throughout their life. And no, it is almost nothing like the movie. 

You should read Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights because of the lessons it can teach you and the conversations it could spark between you and your peers. It is a deep novel that can provide a multitude of deep conversational topics deepening your relationships and understanding of the people and the world around you. Wuthering Heights, and literature generally, provides its reader with a new perspective through which to view the world. Since Wuthering Heights is an old novel, it can be found online in the Gutenberg Project’s library entirely for free. The Amazon Classics edition is also available on Kindle Unlimited. Outside of that, most local and school libraries carry it, it’s available on the Libby app which is essentially an online library where you can borrow copies of almost any text, and Wuthering Heights can be found at most local booksellers! (Jamie Putman)

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. An extraordinary work of imagination which remains are powerful and relevant today as it did when Emily wrote it in 1845.

I have created new work for heritage spaces for many years. My first site-specific music based work was created for an early 19th century cotton-spinning mill in Manchester back in 2006. Since then, alongside my concert music, I’ve made work for Bronte Parsonage Museum, the iconic K6 red telephone box, a lighthouse and a castle keep.

Bringing the Brontës Home with David McKay

Wed 7 Oct, 6:00pm

Brontë Event Space in the Old School Room

Anjet Daanje's The Song of Stork and Dromedary was an unprecedented literary success in the Netherlands, winning acclaim as the best Dutch novel of this century. Inspired by the myths and magic of the Brontës, Daanje weaves an intricate web of story around Eliza May Drayden, a fictionalised version of Emily Brontë. Eliza May's story unfolds through the tales of people who met her; a passage from her controversial novel Haeger Mass; her sister’s letters; her biographers’ words; the pages of a mysterious notebook; and the lives that become intertwined with hers, even centuries later.

Much of Daanje's novel is set in Bridge Fowling, a fictional version of Haworth. David McKay, who translates Daanje's work into English, faced a unique challenge. How might a translator bring a novel crafted for a Dutch audience home to the English language, to British readers, and to the hills and dales of West Yorkshire? His research took him to Haworth, the nearby moors, and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

David McKay is an award-winning translator of Dutch fiction and nonfiction. Anjet Daanje writes novels, short stories, and screenplays. Her novel The Remembered Soldier was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2026.

This event is part of the New Dutch Writing programme, supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

'Jane Eyre' (2011)

Excuse this inelegant summary, but another famous novel about “the other woman” is Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. It has been adapted many times, of course, but check out director Cary Joji Fukunaga and writer Moira Buffini’s adaptation starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. Like Lowen in Verity, Jane travels to the country to take on a new job—as a governess, instead of a ghostwriter. Like Lowen, she falls in love with the man who lives there, Rochester.

She also discovers some dark secrets about the family she’s stepping into and Rochester’s first wife. This story is typically considered a little more romantic than some others in the genre, but whether or not you’re rooting for these crazy kids is up to you to decide. (Leah Marilla Thomas)

This is some Wuthering Heights level melodrama, yet actually a lot more sophisticated than the Emerald Fennell film, although the final resolution here contains too many multiple improbabilities to detail. 

Wuthering Heights 2026

This one is still very fresh in people’s minds, given it was released on Valentine’s Day earlier this year; writer/director Emerald Fennell’s “adaptation” of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights had controversy almost straight away, not least with the casting of Margot Robbie – who was considered older than Cathy – and, in particular, Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, with accusations of whitewashing.

Then, on the film’s release, many took exception to the darker, more sexual tone, as well as Fennell’s “reinterpretation” of the book, saying she couldn’t just remake it, but rather interpret it from the perspective of someone experiencing the book. Even the quotation marks around “Wuthering Heights” in the title were seen as Fennell deliberately signalling that this is her own take rather than a definitive screen version. Its 56% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes showed how divisive it was, with as many five-star reviews in the mix as one-star ones. (Scott Davis)

‘Wuthering Heights’ (2026) Cathy Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) have a bond that began in childhood and strengthens as they grow into young adults. They clearly love each other, but they can’t quite seem to acknowledge it. When Cathy marries the wealthy Edgar (Shazad Latif) to save her home, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff leaves, only to return a few years later, wealthier and more handsome than ever. Their love still burns brightly, but will Cathy’s marriage and Heathcliff’s stubbornness stand in the way of their happy ending? Adapted from Emily Brontë’s classic Victorian novel, this Wuthering Heights isn’t for purists or lovers of traditional BBC costume dramas. Director Emerald Fennell’s takes some pretty bold swings, including adding a lot of overt eroticism and not-so-subtle kinky foreplay that’s definitely not present in the original text. The result is a love story that’s occasionally goofy, kinda absurd, but always entertaining to watch, thanks to its gorgeous, color-saturated visuals and decent lead performances by Robbie and Elordi. (Blair Marnell)

Steinbeck’s East of Eden has been a personal staple in Kazan’s life. She first read the book at 15, immediately impacted by the story and characters. “There are just certain books that hit you so hard,” she says, also naming Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby as others that did the same. (Lexy Perez)

'Jane Eyre' (1847)

Jane Eyre is an autobiography about a woman who does not actually exist. The eponymous Jane Eyre is an orphan who has grown up with her abusive aunt, forcing Jane to grow up quickly and learn to fend for herself. She eventually finds work as a governess to a ward named Mr. Rochester. Jane and Mr. Rochester do end up developing feelings for each other, but this is impeded when Jane uncovers terrible secrets about Rochester's family history, compelling her to choose between her own pleasure and her own morality.

This is a very early feminist novel that happens to be a romance. Though it is largely about love between a man and a woman, it is also about a woman's search for individuality, equality, and personal freedom. This is one of those books that went on to establish itself as a literary classic, so much so that there are still high school and university kids writing book reports about it to this day. It's such a masterpiece of fiction, and a super important romance novel for beginners to read. (Dawson Nyffenegger)

I knew that the film was going to play it safe, unlike the disastrous Wuthering Heights, which was more of a TikTok event for broken young people happy for English literature to be destroyed for a director’s fantasy. (Daniel Hart)

I’ve had three very different experiences with period dramas over the last 12 months, which has made me wonder if the cinematic landscape of this genre has changed for good. The first was Wuthering Heights, a clear assault on the source material. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

You might have seen the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights this February, but I can assure you the book was nothing like the film. Better, more thought-out, and a direct way to understand the lengths people will go to for revenge, this classic novel makes for the perfect fall read, easy to pick up in a free moment to escape to life in the rainy English countryside, channeling all the fall vibes. (Zara Saliba)

‘The Wife Upstairs’ by Rachel Hawkins 

This chilling tale—a dark reimagining of the classic Jane Eyre—follows Jane, who is new to Birmingham, Alabama. She spends her days working as a dog walker in a rich neighborhood, hiding her identity and stealing from the homeowners. Then she meets wealthy—albeit mysterious—man named Eddie Rochester and her life takes a dramatic turn. Now she’s living in his house and feeling haunted by his late wife, Bea, who died in a boating accident. As time goes on, Jane begins investigating what really happened to Bea, and deadly secrets emerge. (Carissa Mosness)

Quel a été le point de départ de Je dont les deux lettres renvoient au roman culte de Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre ?

C’est parti d’une situation qui m’est arrivée, du sentiment d’être enfermée dans une histoire, du fait d’avoir douté de ma santé mentale à un moment de cette relation. J’ai repensé alors à Bertha, ce personnage secondaire de Jane Eyre, cette première épouse, cette "folle du grenier" qui hante la demeure de Rochester. En relisant le roman, j’ai eu le sentiment que son histoire n’avait pas été racontée. On n’a que le point de vue de Rochester, et les raisons de son enfermement sont très floues.

J’avais envie de comprendre et de décortiquer les mécanismes de destruction d’une femme tels que je les avais vécus et, en même temps, de montrer la triste banalité de tout ça. Les manipulateurs du sentiment amoureux ont toujours existé. En deux siècles, les mécanismes ont peu changé, et c’est pour cela qu’on peut se reconnaître même aujourd’hui dans un personnage du 19e siècle.

Qu’est-ce qui vous a frappé à la relecture de Jane Eyre ?

D’abord qu’on ne sait pratiquement rien sur Bertha, seulement ce que Rochester veut bien en dire. Ce qui m’a frappée, c’est sa présence fantomatique, et le fait que Jane Eyre commence elle-même à penser qu’elle est folle. Elle entend des bruits étranges, des pleurs… et on ne lui explique rien.

C’est frappant ça aussi de constater que cet homme-là, Rochester, qui a visiblement des raisons objectives d’enfermer son épouse chez lui, n’en parle pas ; il la cache, y compris à la femme qu’il dit aimer ou du moins qu’il a envie d’épouser. Il y a dans le comportement de Rochester des choses très troublantes, et même préoccupantes.

À la fin, d’ailleurs, il dit "Je voulais être bigame, je voulais avoir deux femmes". La présence diffuse de Bertha dans le roman sert à retranscrire l’atmosphère gothique, mais elle est presque une mise en garde pour Jane Eyre. Elle est aussi le reflet de ce qu’elle pourrait devenir. Cette lecture-là, je ne l’avais pas eue plus jeune, j’étais restée très premier degré, mais en réalité, la version que nous propose Rochester ne tient pas debout…

Vous insistez sur le fait qu’il ne s’agit absolument pas d’une réécriture de Jane Eyre.

C’est important de préciser que c’est un roman qui ne demande pas d’avoir lu Jane Eyre, ni même La Prisonnière des Sargasses, le livre de Jean Rhys écrit en 1966 autour du personnage de Bertha. Dans Je, il n’y a quasiment aucune scène en commun avec Jane Eyre. Parce qu’en fait, ce n’était pas mon sujet. J’aurais pu écrire ce livre totalement aujourd’hui, cela n’aurait rien changé, et personne ne m’aurait rien dit, bien au contraire. Mais j’ai trouvé que c’était de la facilité et surtout que ça ne racontait pas ce que j’avais vécu.

Ce sont les livres qui m’ont aidée à m’en sortir et notamment celui-là, parce qu’il y a eu, chez moi, une sorte de projection sur Bertha. Et en racontant son histoire à elle, j’ai réussi à me raconter. Je est fait du regard que je porte sur le personnage inventé par Charlotte Brontë. Tout comme Jean Rhys a projeté sur Bertha un morceau de sa propre vie et de son époque. Ce qui fait d’un livre un classique, c’est la surface de projection qu’il nous offre et sa capacité à questionner un siècle ou cinq siècles plus tard. Un livre dépend totalement de la manière dont on le lit, de l’époque à laquelle on le lit, et de la période à laquelle on le lit au cours de sa vie. (Francesca Mantovani) (Translation)

Erläuterung und Anleitung finden Nora bei Jane Austen und Anne Brontë. (Regina Bärthel) (Translation)

For this year’s Victober, I’m taking a closer look at Anne Brontë’s second novel, a book about marriage, motherhood, alcoholism, infidelity, independence and a woman making the extraordinary decision to leave her husband.

But how much of the story came from Anne’s own experiences?

In this video, we’ll look at Anne’s time at Thorp Green, Branwell Brontë and his struggles with alcohol, the real-life stories that may have influenced Anne, and the woman who came to Haworth seeking Patrick Brontë’s advice about her own troubled marriage.

We’ll also look at the reaction to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall when it was published, Anne’s fascinating defence of her novel, and why Charlotte Brontë had very different feelings about her sister’s book.

So, make yourself a brew and settle in for a look at one of Anne Brontë’s most fascinating, controversial and often overlooked novels.

If you enjoy Brontë history, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Victorian literature and the stories behind the books, I hope you’ll enjoy this one.