'Our dear Charlotte is no more'

Today our attention is focused on commemorating the 159th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's death. The title of this post comes from the letter Arthur Bell Nicholls wrote to Ellen Nussey on the very 31st of March of 1855.

We are not alone commemorating her death. The Oxford University Press blog quotes from an emotional letter from her to William Smith Williams where she looked back on the deaths of her sisters Emily and Anne.

I could hardly let Emily go—I wanted to hold her back then—and I want her back hourly now—Anne, from her childhood seemed preparing for an early death—Emily’s spirit seemed strong enough to bear her to fullness of years—They are both gone—and so is poor Branwell—and Papa has now me only—the weakest—puniest—least promising of his six children—Consumption has taken the whole five. (Read more)

The Scotsman, Libreriamo (Italy) and a few others all recall the anniversary.

El blog perdido de Laura (in Spanish) and Eileen's Blog post about Wuthering Heights. Travel with words uploads a Jane Eyre illustration. The novel is reviewed on Youngisthan and discussed on the University of Toronto Press Journals Blog. {A classic comeback} disagrees with the feminist readings of the novel. Caffeine Epiphanies is going to read Villette. Knitted notes posts about Wuthering Heights 1939.