Checks signed by Emily Brontë

Apart from the good news regarding the Emmy Awards, there are more things online worthy of mention today, mostly reviews.

Literature.de posts a positive review - in German - on Ann Dinsdale's The Brontës at Haworth in its German version: Die Brontës in Haworth.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch publishes a review of Shaggy Muses by Maureen Adams which, as you know, features Emily Brontë and Keeper among other writers. You can read our more Brontë-oriented review.

And the Guardian reviews a book released a few months ago: The Complete Book of Aunts, where Jane Eyre's Aunt Reed appears.

But now for a very charming post from 2020 Hindsight on Madeleine L'Engle, who sadly passed away last Thursday. These are fragments from her book Circle of Quiet.

I asked, “Do you really and truly mean that my signature, my name, means nothing, absolutely nothing at all?”
“That’s what I mean.”
It was a wet and windy day. I looked at the rain slashing against the windows, pulled out a check with cybernetic salad in the bottom left-hand corner, said, “All right then, I feel like Emily Brontë today,” and signed it Emily Brontë.
My friend was not amused. “Madeleine, what are you doing?”
“You just told me that my name means nothing, absolutely nothing at all. Okay, so I feel like Emily Brontë and I don’t see why I shouldn’t sign it Emily Brontë. Take it — just for fun— and let’s see what happens.” [...]
It did not bounce. I now have cancelled checks signed Emily Brontë, Jane Austen, and Elizabeth Barret Browning.

And this is the blogger's own story when she wanted Madeleine L'Engle to sign this book but the shop assistants told her that Madeleine L'Engle could only sign her latest book.

There we were, standing before the table where Madeleine L’Engle sat. She signed Kelly’s book. She signed mine. I said, “I have A Circle of Quiet here, is there any way you can sign it?” One of the two or three hovering Vroman’s ladies, wearing store aprons and frowns, replied that sorry, no, she couldn’t sign that book.
“Well how about if she signs it Emily Brontë?” I asked, looking at Ms. L’Engle.
She looked up, saw the book I held. Her next words were both a gift and a response to my secret code.
“I have to sign that.”

Fantastic anecdote.

Categories: Books, Emily Brontë