First of all, a happy 210th birthday to Charlotte Brontë. And let us recommend a recent release to do with her life but from a different point of view: Eleanor Houghton's Charlotte Brontë's Life through Clothes, which starts precisely on this day in 1816 in Thornton.
The Star lists the Brontë-related events that will be taking place at Scarborough's forthcoming Books by the Beach, based at Queen Street Methodist Central Hall from Friday June 5 to Sunday June 7. Bronte expert, author and scholar Deborah Lutz is flying in from the USA to share her new biography with Scarborough audiences at Queen Street on the Friday at 10am.. Her This Dark Night is the first full biography of Emily Bronte in more than 20 years. Emily was 27 when she started writing Wuthering Heights. Three years later, she was dead. Out of step with her own time and remembered as the strangest of the three Bronte sisters, she has always been hard to know, especially given the destruction of her papers. Deborah is one of the few people who has felt and examined much of the Bronte’s surviving material including letters, desks, chairs and books and all of the tiny poetry manuscripts and notebooks. These include the hand-written manuscript of Emily’s poems rediscovered in 2021 at Honresfield House near the Bronte family home, Haworth Parsonage. At the opening event, Deborah will reveal the politics and events of the era as well as the delights and tragedies of the Bronte family’s life, including Emily’s sisters Anne and Charlotte, which directly inspired much of Emily’s writing. It’s a fresh take on her short but momentous life which shows why so many of us are still fascinated by the Bronte family. Deborah will be in discussion with festival patron and former head of BBC Radio Helen Boaden. The Emily Bronte theme continues with Essie Fox, the Sunday Times best-selling author of seven historical novels, including The Somnambulist which was shortlisted for the National Book Awards. She is the host of the podcast Talking the Gothic. She will be talking about her reimagining of Wuthering Heights at Queen Street on the Friday at 12.30pm. Essie Fox’s new novel Catherine, told through the narrative voice of Catherine Earnshaw, is already being hailed as a classic in its own right. Heather French, festival organiser, said: “Essie’s retelling of Wuthering Heights is haunting and atmospheric, and I was glued to it. "It’s also topical as we’re now seeing a renewed cultural fascination with all things gothic – in books, films and fashion. I’m really looking forward to these two Bronte-themed events and of course we have very strong Bronte connections here in Scarborough." Anne Bronte stayed in Scarborough and is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard. (Sue Wilkinson)
While she credits Daphne du Maurier and Charlotte Brontë as inspiration – “Rebecca and Jane Eyre were the original domestic thrillers,” she told the Times – her contemporary favourites include Verity by Colleen Hoover, Room by Emma Donoghue, and The Green Mile by Stephen King. (Ella Creamer) Underdog. The Other Other Brontë gets performed in Northwich, UK:
by Sarah Gordon 22-25 April 2026, including Saturday matinee Directed by Carole Shinkfield With Emily Duffy, Miranda Chance, Laura Elizabeth, Tom Lilly, Gareth Leadbetter, Paul Roman, Daniel Tolley, and Steve Bird.
Charlotte Brontë has a confession about how one sister became an idol, and the other became known as the third sister. You know the one. No, not that one. The other, other one… Anne. This is not a story about well-behaved women. This is a story about the power of words. It’s about sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition. Sarah Gordon’s new play is an irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Brontë sisters, and the story of the sibling power dynamics that shaped their uneven rise to fame.
Director Carol Shinkfield said: "They were the feminists of their time and I love the sense of anarchy within the play, which has allowed us to explore and subvert the traditional view of the Brontë sisters." (...) Quick-witted in tone, the piece dismantles the notion of the Brontës as reclusive and reserved, instead presenting them as progressive thinkers navigating the challenges of a male-dominated literary world. Carol, who recently completed an MA in theatre directing at the Arden School of Theatre, brings a fresh perspective to the show. (Jessica McKeown)
The Guardian has an article on the female gaze on screen and on paper. Do you voraciously read the pages of steamy romantasy bestsellers by Sarah J Maas or Rebecca Yarros? Or flood your group chat with breathless recaps of the latest goings-on in TV series such as Heated Rivalry or Bridgerton? Or even immerse yourself in the divisive and challenging cinematic worlds of Emerald Fennell? If so, you surely can’t have failed to notice that in pop culture, the female gaze – storytelling that highlights the meandering, textured, sublimely messy inner worlds and wants of women – is enjoying an explosion. On TV, you can see it everywhere, in the interior lives and desires taken up by Big Little Lies, Sirens or Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington’s Little Fires Everywhere. Romantasy harbours it in the shape of powerful maidens and sex in fae (fairy) realms, while Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and Promising Young Woman are marketed with the promise of converting women’s experiences into dark beauty on the big screen. (Deborah Linton)
Instead of excavating the forgotten story of a heroic woman from history, Natasha has built a new story that fictionalises 1950s and ‘60s Hollywood and rests it on the foundations of Jane Eyre. The orphaned heroine is Aria Jones, and she, the modern iteration of Jane, has been transported from gothic England to the Chateau Marmont during the Hollywood studio era. This new setting is no less confining than 1800s rural England, and plenty of menace lurks behind the hotel’s many doors, from ghostly apparitions to sleazy film directors. Natasha’s characters are undeniably contemporary. The young women who fill the Chateau fizz with ambition, potent beauty and unmet potential. Their stories are inspired by real stars who once graced the hotel, including Marilyn Monroe and Natalie Wood. Aspiring actresses Calliope (who cannot be called beautiful because the word is “wholly inadequate”) and Flitter, who is “chasing beauty but hasn’t caught it yet” are tools for Natasha to explore the treatment of women under the studio system, and to show how they used what meagre power they had to take control of their own fates. A teenage Aria is welcomed into their shared bedroom where she finds sisterly love and advice amid cosy pyjama-parties and mint juleps ordered from Schwab’s. The Chateau itself is almost a character. It observes and sighs and welcomes Aria, who was orphaned at the age of 13 after her parents are killed in a gas station inferno. The reason she has come to the chateau is that it is where her aunt, the washed-up actress Miss Devine Rey, lives. The narrative shifts back and forth between young, newly arrived Aria, and a more mature Aria who has taken on the role of being a sort-of governess to Adele, the daughter of the new owner of the Chateau, gruff rock star, Theo Winchester. Like Edward Rochester, Theo has a history of excess, and a mysterious, checkered past. Though he’s more conventionally attractive than the original. [...] Aria’s goal in taking a job as Adele’s carer is to save enough money to one day break free of the Chateau. Just as Jane Eyre yearns to see the world beyond the English hillside, Aria dreams of the ocean. She is haunted by apparitions of fire, which foreshadows the inevitable fate of the building. The Chateau on Sunset is not a re-telling, however, it is a re-imagining, and Natasha has allowed herself to create new fates for the characters. There is a distinct shift in tone after the famous woman-in-the-attic-scene, with plenty of surprises as the story barrels towards its ending. (Genevieve Gannon)
Donegal Daily features Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre for Charlotte's birthday tomorrow. AnneBrontë.org celebrates Ellen Nussey's birthday, which is today.
Brontë-related research in Africa:
Ouana Alassane Sekongo, University Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire Revue des Arts, Linguistique, Littérature & Civilisations, Vol 2, Mars 2026
In nineteenth-century England, Victorianism was an ideology based on the principle that men are more rational than women. As such, it divided the society into two distinct spheres, which were the private sphere for women and the public sphere for men. This paper aims to highlight that Brontë coins the character Jane, an educated and defiant girl who subverts these social norms and works hard to enter the public space just as men. In addition to textual evidence, the article relies on Judith Butler’s (1990) theory of deconstructing gender norms in order to demonstrate how Brontë’s novel questions the Victorian gender system and opens doors for women to express themselves and reveal their talents. The study concludes that after defying the ideology of Victorianism, Jane has not only got access to formal education, but also worked in the public sphere as a teacher. She, therefore, stands as a resilient and an emergent girl, serving as a role model for 21st century women.
Atmospheric Perfumes " for anyone who secretly wants to live in a Brontë novel" on BuzzFeed: The moors provide a staggering wealth of sensory inspiration. There is the visual poetry of purple heather and bright yellow gorse, but the true magic lies in the air itself: the scent of peaty, rain-soaked earth, moss-cloaked stones, and the sharp, ozonic chill of an approaching storm. Beyond the wilderness lies the atmospheric indoor world of the Heights and Thrushcross Grange: the smoldering woodsmoke of a centuries-old hearth, the bitterness of kitchen herbs, aged tobacco, and the sweet, golden comfort of honey and oats. If you've ever wished to carry the essence of the moors with you, I've curated a list of 12 niche and indie fragrances that capture the very heart of the Brontë sisters' world. From photorealistic rain to gothic smoke, here are the scents that will make you feel as though you've stepped directly into the mist: (Savannah)
Of course, if you don't know which one to try, BuzzFeed conveniently publishes a Wuthering Heights Quiz "To Discover Which Atmospheric Perfume Matches Your Gothic Heart".
A letter sent to the Craven Herald in 1914 shed light on author Charlotte Brontë's links with Craven. It also revealed some other fascinating snippets, writes Lesley Tate. Novelist Charlotte Bronte spent a short time as a governess for a family at Stone Gappe, on the Skipton side of Lothersdale. And 112 years ago, a "correspondent" for the Craven Herald wrote of her connections with Craven and her apparent dislike of children. Charlotte, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood, lived at Haworth where she wrote her masterpiece, Jane Eyre, under the name of Currer Bell. Trained as a teacher, she spent a few years, between 1839 and 1841 as a governess, including to the Sidgwick family at their summer resident, Stone Gappe in Lothersdale. Charlotte was employed by the Sidgwicks in 1839, but did not take kindly to children, according to the Herald of 1914. On June 8, 1839 in a letter to her sister, Emily, she wrote: "The country, the house and the grounds are divine. . . The children are constantly with me, and more riotous, perverse, unmanageable cubs never grew." The Herald's correspondent of June, 26, 1914, a few weeks before Europe was plunged into war, wondered what Charlotte would have thought of the modern "enfante terrible". "Surely, most children answer to her description at some period of their lives, and is it not only healthy that they should?" they asked. Charlotte, who stayed for just a month at Stone Gappe before moving on, wrote in the same letter to her sister about Mr Sidgwick. "Mr Sidgwick walked out with the children, and I had orders to follow a little behind. "As he strolled on through the fields with his magnificent Newfoundland dog at his side, he looked very like what a frank, wealthy, Conservative gentleman ought to be. He spoke freely and unaffectedly to the people he met, and though he indulged his children, and allowed them to tease himself far too much, he would not suffer them grossly to insult others." It may be that Mr Sidgwick was the inspiration for Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre, published in 1847. Mr Rochester, who employed the young Jane as his governess, also had a large Newfoundland dog. It has also been suggested that one of the Sidgwick's children, John, who at one time threw a bible at Charlotte, was the inspiration for John Reed, who in Jane Eyre, throws a book at the young Jane, his step-sister. The Herald pointed out Charlotte's use of the word Conservative, and explained it was then almost a new word when applied to politics. "The good old word 'Tory' is now only used as a catchphrase by our political opponents, " said the correspondent, who left readers in no mistake as to their political leanings. Charlotte appeared to have little success as a governess, the correspondent continued, passing from post to post very rapidly. Another sister, Annie Bronte, wrote in her diary: "Charlotte has left Mrs Wooler's, been a governess at Mrs Sidgwick's, left her, and gone to Mrs White's". The extract was dated 1841, which, bearing in mind Charlotte was born in 1816, showed that she had been a governess with at least three families before she was 25-years-old. Charlotte wrote under the name of Currer Bell, and there were two popular theories about the origins of her pseudonym. One was that she had been inspired by Currer Hall, near Beamsley. But the Herald's correspondent favoured a different theory. "It is more probable that it was then in honour of the family of Currer, who then lived at Kildwick Hall. The Currers possessed a magnificent library, the greater part of which is now at Eshton Hall, " said the correspondent. There was also connection to a former headmaster of Skipton Grammar School, a Dr Cartman, who was described as a "great friend" of Charlotte's father, Patrick Bronte. A letter from Charlotte written when she was in London in June, 1851, to her father begins: "Dear Papa - I am glad to hear that you continue in pretty good health, and that Mr Cartman came to help you on Sunday." The Rev Patrick Brontë died in June, 1861 and the Bradford Review in describing the funeral at Haworth, mentions that Dr Cartman, of Skipton, was one of the bearers. The Craven Herald of June, 1853, which was then a monthly publication, described the consecration of St Mary's Church, Embsay, in which the name of the Rev A B Nicholls was included. Mr Nicholls, then curate to Patrick Brontë at Haworth, was eventually to be married to Charlotte, but according to the Herald at the time, it was not a relationship approved of by Charlotte's father. "It was in December, 1852, that Mr Nicholls proposed to Charlotte, " said the correspondent. "Her father, who appears to have been of a violent temper, would not hear of the match. His relations with Nicholls afterwards became so strained that the latter had no alternative but to leave." Mr Nicholls departed Haworth in May, 1853 - some ten days after the consecration of Embsay Church. "It is now a matter of history that Charlotte eventually married Mr Nicholls, who survived her by many years, " said the correspondent, who writing a 100 years ago, added he had died just a few years earlier. Mr Nicholls left his portrait of Charlotte to the National Portrait Gallery, London. (Lesley Tate)
Back in the village, stop by Harrington’s butcher and deli for what locals say are “the best quiches this side of Manchester,” or enjoy a pint at The George, the 16th-century inn where a young Charlotte Brontë once stayed and found inspiration for Jane Eyre. (Vaishnavi Pandey) Well... and we have this. On the BBC: A curlew conservation campaigner will spread his wings across Yorkshire's Three Peaks on Sunday for his latest fundraising challenge. Matt Trevelyan will attempt to scale Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in under 12 hours - dressed as his feathered friend Cathy the Curlew - a 10ft (3m) long home-made costume. Trevelyan will be joined by his partner Claire, who will bring a touch of romance to the trek as Cathy's curlew companion Heathcliff. (Samantha Whelanand and Georgey Spanswick)
The New Indian Express wonders where the rom-com movies have gone. We wonder where fact-checking's gone in view of the blunder: And even if they get it wrong like Emerald Fennell's heavy breathing adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Wuthering Heights, at least they tried. (Kaveree Bamzai) More Recent Articles
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