Bleeding like a classic

The Telegraph & Argus talks about the new exhibition of the Brontë Parsonage Museum (with new acquisitions from the recent 'Brontëana Surgery'):
Picture source: Ann Dinsdale, collections' manager at the Bronte Parsonage Museum with one of the new acquisitions

Life in Haworth at the time of the Brontes is to be brought to life in a new exhibition – thanks to local people who went rummaging in their attics.
The result of the Bronteana appeal was a stack of treasures which have helped paint a new picture of the village and Parsonage where the three sisters, Charlotte, author of Jane Eyre, Emily, who wrote Wuthering Heights, and Anne, together with their brother, Branwell, lived in the 19th century.
Many of these items will go on show when the museum opens for the new season on February 4 after it closed at the end of January.
Among them are an 1834 Haworth rate book, a collection of Haworth church hymn sheets dating from the Bronte period and six books believed to have belonged to the Brontes which were given to their servant Martha Brown.
Also on show will be three bound volumes of the Family Economist which belonged to Martha’s sister, Tabitha, who also assisted with domestic work at the Parsonage.
Still under investigation to see if it has connections with the Parsonage is a jam pan believed to have been included in the sale which took place in Haworth after the death of the Rev Patrick Bronte, the Bronte children’s father, in 1861.
Ann Dinsdale, the Bronte Parsonage collections manager, said: “The items which came forward were a real surprise and helped us flesh out life in Haworth and the villagers’ connections with the Parsonage.
“A nice human interest story relates to the hymn sheets which advertises a sermon by the church curate at the time, William Weightman, who we know was a charming and handsome young man who enlivened the routine of the sisters in the Parsonage.
“He tragically died of cholera in 1842, aged just 26.
“The domestic volumes are fascinating because of the advice they give, such as how to make you own ink. It’s quite likely that some of that advice was used directly in the Bronte household.
“There are other items which we’re researching to confirm their connections with the family and they will be shown at another exhibition. We would like to thank everyone who got in touch and to reiterate that people are still welcome to contact the museum if they believe they have items which would interest us,” she added. (Clive White)

Publishers Weekly reviews the upcoming book by Juliette Gael Romancing Miss Brontë:

In her debut, Gael makes a valiant attempt to blend fact with fiction as she transports readers to 19th-century England, where Charlotte Brontë conspires with her sisters to publish their works under pseudonyms. The publications aren’t instant successes, and shortly after Charlotte’s Jane Eyre creates a stir in London, a wave of deaths in her family leaves Charlotte as the sole caretaker of her aging father. That responsibility, combined with her “average” looks, seem certain to fate Charlotte to a life of spinsterhood—until a confession of undying love comes from an unlikely corner. Charlotte has a choice: will she settle for less than that all-encompassing passion she writes about? Or would she rather be alone for the rest of her life? Through letters written by Brontë herself and research on her life and life’s work, Gael paints an accurate and intriguing depiction of the author, though her dedication to her material leads portions to read like straightforward biography. There are a number of good moments, though, and Brontë fans will surely enjoy this look at the author’s life, even if it doesn’t bleed like the classics. (May)

The Daily Monitor (Uganda) publishes the obituary of the writer Austin Ejiet,

The connoisseur drew inspiration from timeless works by writers in the calibre of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Wole Soyinka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ngugi wa Thiongo and Enid Blyton whose works he fell madly in love with during his early formative years. (Dennis D. Muhumuza)

This Day (Nigeria) is able to join in the same sentence Socrates, Emily Bronte, Newton, Oscar Wilde, Joan of Arc in an article about lawyers. Quite an achievement. The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America publishes an article about the deaths of the Brontë family, Our Mutual Friend has read Agnes Grey (part of the All About the Brontës Challenge), A Teenage Sophisticate recommends Wuthering Heights 2009.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëana, Fiction, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights