Brontë Parsonage Wedding

BrontëBlog is still smiling, members of the team know why, after reading this press release from the Brontë Society (also posted on the Brontë Parsonage Blog):

Staff at the Parsonage have seen a rush of engagements recently with earnest chaps going down on one knee at the door to the world famous home of the Brontë family in Haworth to ask for their girl's hand in marriage. (...)

One such couple from Oxfordshire chose the Parsonage as the perfect setting for this important romantic gesture. Ben Heather proposed to his girlfriend of three years on the Parsonage steps and thankfully got a positive response!

Holly Simpson said yes on the couple’s third anniversary. Ben chose the Brontë home because of Holly’s interest in their novels through her studies in English, Media and Creative writing at the University of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. One of her favourites is Wuthering Heights.

Ben said, “Holly knew nothing at all about it so was very surprised. She started to cry the minute I pulled out the ring. We would like to thank everyone at the Parsonage for their hospitality and kindness, and for the wonderful gift we received on the day.

"I'm very sure we will be back in the future, as the museum will hold a special place in our hearts and memories. No date has been set for the big day as we both still live with our parents and are desperately saving up for a house first, then we will save up and sort out the big day, hopefully in a couple of years.” (Diane Kay)

The Kentucky Herald-Leader's book reviewer Cheryl Truman chooses her favourite books:

6. Anything by any Brontë sister
Wuthering Heights by Emily, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne. Either you're a sensible Jane Austenite or you're one of those wild-women Brontë-busters. Count me in with the latter.

Well, we rather think you can be both, but we respect all opinions.

The other news today can be classified in two categories, announcements and reviews.

A couple of announcements. The First Post talks about the upcoming London Artsadmin Summer Season (A month-long season of performance, installation and film curated by Artsadmin at the newly refurbished Toynbee Studios). Kazuko Hohki's Wuthering Heights (check these previous posts) will be performed:

Kazuko Hohki, a Japanese performer living in London, finds the ways of the British a source of bemusement and for several years has been making eccentric and hilarious shows about her collision with our culture. Her latest outing, Kazuko's Wuthering Heights, billed as 'a tale of love, loss, delusion and farming', features a Japanese tourist and a number of sheep coming to terms with the Tokyo-Haworth differential. (David Gale)

Jane Eyre figures as one of the plays to be performed (May 2008) in the new season of the LifeHouse Theater in Redlands, California as can be read here.

And some Brontë-related reviews, as usual. The Jewish News Weekly reviews Tamar Yellin's Kafta in Brontëland (more information on previous posts):

The titular story, Kafka in Brontëland,explores Jewish identity in Brontë’s brooding landscape of the English moors via a patchwork of images, musings and snippets of action and dialogue. (Adina Kletter)

Catching the Classics reviews I Walked With A Zombie (1943) with more than obvious Jane Eyre connections (check previous posts); Classical Book Club reviews Wuthering Heights (the review somehow reminds one of those contemporary reviews that praised the energy of the writing but were disturbed by the behaviour of the characters) and, finally, Blog-A-Book reviews, in German, Jane Eyre

Categories: Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre, Wuthering Heights