Brontëites and Austenites

The Independent publishes a Top Ten of books to be read aloud to your children. The list is chosen by children's author Jacqueline Wilson and includes Jane Eyre:

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Technically this is an adult book, but I read it to Emma when she was about 10. She particularly enjoyed the first few chapters when Jane is a little girl and she's treated badly by her aunts and her cousins and then packed off to a terrible boarding school.

Nine O'Clock echoes the recent death of the literary critic, historian and member of the Romanian Academy Zoe Dumistrescu-Busulenga that in 1967 published a Critical Approach to the Brontë sisters: Surorile Brontë.

Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath, and Bath is inextricably linked to Jane Austen. The Denver Post publishes a very interesting and nice article about Austen places and the different locations where the last Pride & Prejudice movie was shot.

Derbyshire, the current location for the BBC new Jane Eyre adaptation was also used in the P&P film version. Even Haddon Hall (the current Thornfield Hall)

Next we toured Haddon Hall, an original manor house whose oldest portions date from the 13th century. The Inn at Lambton scenes were filmed here in the Great Hall, and Lizzie and Jane's paneled bedroom was shot in the Dining Room. You can tour Haddon Hall every day from May through October.

There's also another Brontë connection in the article:

Remember the towering cliff edge where Lizzie stands, her cloak billowing in the wind, gazing out to distant peaks? This is Stanage Edge, in Peak National Park, a magnet for parasailers and rock climbers. You can hike to the top, too, from a trailhead below. Incidentally, the small tower barely visible below is North Lees Hall, the inspiration for Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."

Well, for Thornfield Hall as a matter of fact. From the 'fictional' Thornfield to the 'real' one... in just one paragraph. The picture on the left, North Less Hall, is taken from here.

Categories: In_the_News, Jane_Eyre, Brontëites