"Significant and exciting"

Picture source

ITV News reports briefly yesterday's exciting news about Charlotte Brontë's L'amour filial essay. The Brontë Society website announces the acquisition as well:

The Brontë Society is delighted to announce its acquisition of a significant and exciting autograph manuscript by Charlotte Brontë: a previously unpublished homework essay – known as a devoir – on the subject ‘L’Amour Filial’ (the love of a child for parents), written during her time in Brussels, and marked by Constantin Heger, the married teacher with whom she was deeply in love.
Acquired by private sale for the sum of £50,000, and generously funded by private and public donors, the devoir was unknown until December 2012, when the Society was contacted with news of its discovery in a private library. Expert analysis of the handwriting confirmed its author was indeed Charlotte Brontë.
The single-page document, written on both sides, is composed in French and written on a topic assigned to Charlotte Brontë by Constantin Heger as part of her French lessons at the Pensionnat Heger school he and his wife ran in Brussels. Produced at a turbulent time in Charlotte’s life, it deals with the subject of love for parents in dramatic style, claiming that the child who treats a parent unlovingly is little more than a murderer in the eyes of God.
‘We know Charlotte had a deep love and respect for her father Patrick Brontë, but lost her mother at the age of just five, when she died from what is now believed to have been ovarian cancer,’ commented Brontë Society Executive Director Professor Ann Sumner today. ‘This new and exciting window on her love for her father, written at a time of great turmoil, is of incalculable value to our understanding of Charlotte’s interior life, and will form the focus of much new scholarship.’
Last month the Brontë Society launched a public appeal for donations to help fund the devoir’s purchase, and received over £3,000. ‘The response was magnificent,’ commented Brontë Society Chairman Sally McDonald today. ‘Many individual members of the public sent contributions, big and small, and the Society was also generously supported by the V&A Purchase Fund, which gave us a grant of £20,000, and Friends of National Libraries, which contributed £5,000.
‘To all these donors we offer our heartfelt thanks that we can now preserve this significant manuscript for the nation as part of our unparalleled collection of Brontë manuscripts and artefacts here at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth.’
The devoir went on display to the public at the weekend, as part of the Society’s Annual General Meeting celebration weekend. News of its acquisition was conveyed to members during Saturday afternoon’s Annual General Meeting.

El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico) features writer Carmen Dolores Hernández. This is how she became an avid reader:

Ella era una niña de 9 años cuando fue enviada como estudiante interna a los Estados Unidos, donde se formó –también con monjas del Sagrado Corazón– en una inmensa biblioteca en la que releía desde Dickens, pasando por las hermanas Brontë hasta Louisa May Alcott y sus Mujercitas. Allá se hizo lectora. (Ana Teresa Toro) (Translation)

The Marlborough Express (New Zealand) has a couple of very similar articles on the latest Stars in Your Eyes where

Nina McCollum sang and danced her way into first place on Friday night, performing Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, as the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw.
Dressed in white, the waif-like McCollum gave a convincing performance. The stage presence that won over the judges and audience came from years of dancing, she said. "The experience was awesome, it was my first time singing on stage, and whether I won or not I was really proud to be able to get up there and show everyone a good time." (Kat Pickford)

Unfortunately, the other article seems to want to dig a little deeper and this happens:

Next up was the winner, Nina McCollum, whose natural stage presence and lithe dance moves were spell-binding. I did find the shrill voice of the ghost of Charlotte Brontë's Catherine Earnshaw singing Wuthering Heights a little challenging, but after comparing it to the original Kate Bush performance on You Tube, I was utterly convinced. The similarity was indeed remarkable.
Thanks to my table companions for their sage advice.
After listening to it several times on Saturday morning, I kept catching myself singing the lyrics from the chorus "Let me in! I'm so co-o-o-old!" all weekend. (Kat Pickford)

It is indeed quite 'challenging' since Catherine Earnshaw and her ghost were both created not by Charlotte Brontë but by Emily Brontë. 'Sage advice' indeed!

More music, as io9's Observation Deck matches a few songs to books:

I love music. I'm actually blaring music as I write this. I also love books (Likewise, I have two of them next to me). So I have a question for you all:
Is that any songs that reminds you of a book whenever you hear it? A song that if you were going to do a playlist for a book, it has to be on it because it just reminds you of the story so much. Some of my examples:
This for Jane Eyre and her relationship with Rochester (I'm a sucker for both JE and Snow Patrol so this works for me.) (Geesejuggler)

The song is Make This Go On Forever by Snow Patrol.

Daisy Dolls continues working on her Jane Eyre doll.