Charlotte Brontë's email address

We already supposed that Lesley Downer, author of The Last Concubine, was quite a Brontëite. Today Booktrade, reporting that this novel has been shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year 2009, quotes her as saying,

"I'm thrilled and flattered to have been shortlisted. I grew up with Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice and hugely enjoyed creating a romantic world of my own. I found it utterly gripping to write about a society which has no concept of romantic love. It made it all the clearer what a powerful and primeval force love is."

This is also sort of relevant to a discussion we were having only a few days ago: Are the Brontës romantic or Romantic (or both)? (They are obviously many more things besides).

Still on that subject, Johanna Lindsey's new book, No Choice But Seduction, is reviewed by AHN:

And to top it all up, this book has an incredulous twist that could rival Jane Eyre's, and I don't mean that in a positive way. True, it made the story a little bit interesting, but it felt like a desperate attempt to make it so. (Anne Lu)

What is not so clear to us is whether both twists are meant or just the one in No Choice But Seduction.

We have enjoyed reading an article in The Telegraph and Argus on the disappearing art of letter-writing. Charlotte Brontë's outstanding letters are aptly mentioned:

The letters of Charlotte Bronte, a prolific letter-writer, reveal aspects of her personal life – her thoughts on her work, her grief at the loss of siblings, her self-image and domestic routine – that we wouldn’t have known so much about otherwise. If Charlotte had merely tapped into an email, text or blog would it have had the same longevity? (Emma Clayton)

There's some food for thought.

The blogosphere is all about different aspects of Jane Eyre today: FarWestBooks has just finished reading the novel, Bibliomaniac's Mania briefly reviews Jane Eyre, the Graphic Novel and Hooked on Houses looks at Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre 2006 (Haddon Hall in real life).

Finally, Brontës.nl reports that the Anois CD with 14 poems by Emily Brontë scheduled for last December will be released in April instead.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Music, Poetry