From Chinese February Flowers to the Parsonage's Shadow-Puppets

What does February Flowers by Fan Wu - one of the first novels published in China to treat lesbian love - have to do with the Brontës? The Taipei Times has the answer.

Chen [Ming, one of the characters,] has promised her parents not to date anyone before graduation. Even so, she dreams of love, which she typically sees as something sacred, indeed almost as a religious monument carved in stone. "I read about that kind of love in books," she says, "like the love between Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, which ... made me tremble with admiration and awe." (Bradley Winterton)

But that's not the end of the unexpected mentions for today. The Phoenix reviews the film 51 Birch Street and briefly describes it as follows:

51 BIRCH STREET: A a family interrogation that transforms into something like a Wide Sargasso Sea of Jewish-American suburbia.

So there. Make what you will of that :P

The Independent looks at the relationship between parents and teenage children. It was nice to read this!

We enjoy doing girly things together: shopping and spa weekends. We loved watching Jane Eyre on television together.

You know, reading the book together too wouldn't be such a bad idea ;)

And finally for something taking place in the heart of Brontëland. These children will perhaps grow to appreciate the Brontës too.

Tales from the Arabian Nights came to life at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, when children put on their very own shadow-puppet play.
Around 20 children took part in the activity day, which encouraged them to get creative with puppets - after a glimpse of the room where the Brontë children once played.
Youngsters were given musical instruments to play alongside the shadow-puppet show and in the afternoon they treated their parents to a live performance.
Victoria Sale, nine, from Oakworth, said: "I went to this last year. Making puppets is just fun. "I like it here because we do lots of different activities, also while learning things." [...]
Deputy director of the museum, Andrew McCarthy, said: "It has gone really well and the children have enjoyed it.
"We feel it's really important that children come along."
"It gives them an opportunity to be creative and to do what the Brontës did as children." (Keighley News)

Really, really good initiative. Children from the Haworth area are extremely lucky because the Museum staff do go out of their way to make them very welcome and involved in many activities.

And now for a complicated story taking place on the moors. No - it's not Wuthering Heights! ;)

Two families are hoping to be thrown a lifeline to the 21st century when new planning rules are introduced early next year.
The Kershaws believe it could end their three-year battle to get permission to erect a wind turbine at their homes near Haworth.
Harbour Lodge is in Brontë country on Haworth Moor and has no mains electricity - it relies on a diesel-driven generator.
It is at the end of a two-mile unmade track and the Kershaws, 72-year-old Gerald, his wife June, 61, and their son Guy, and his wife, Heather, also rely on spring water and occasionally need to use candlelight.
Bradford planners turned down the application three years ago on the grounds that the turbine would harm the special character of the area.
The family also lost their appeal to a Government inspector.

A tough decision. We understand no one should have to live like that in this century, but we also understand that wind turbines are detrimental to such historic landscapes. So we can only hope that the best decision will be made uniting the interests of both parties, hard as that sounds.

Categories: Wuthering Heights , Haworth , Brontë Parsonage Museum , Wide Sargasso Sea