The Day After

 © Associated Press

We still have a few news outlets which mention the Tour passing through Haworth yesterday:

On the up-and-down, picturesque course, the 197-rider peloton scaled a narrow, cobblestone hill in Haworth, where the Brontë sisters — the famous 19th-century novelists — lived when their father was parson in the town. (Jamey Keaten, Associated Press)

The jump in pace had reduced the gap to under two minutes but it began to go out again as the race moved up the narrow cobbled climb in the village of Haworth, made famous by the Brontë sisters. (Mark McGhee in PezCycling News)

The route passed through Harrogate, Keighley, and Huddersfield before reaching Sheffield, taking in areas made famous by the Brontë sisters and TV series Last Of The Summer Wine. (Rob Hayles on BBC News)

The picturesque West Yorkshire village of Haworth is best-known for being the birthplace of legendary literary sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. The trio wrote a number of 19th Century novels which are widely accepted as masterpieces of literature - including Emily's Wuthering Heights. And the Tour de France riders had some heights of their own to tackle as they climbed up Haworth's cobbled Main Street midway through stage two. (Jonathan Jurejko & Peter Scrivener in BBC Sport)

And here comes the peloton riding eight-or-nine abreast as they approach the cobbles and then squeeze down to four as they tackle the Pave du Haworth. All are safely up and over the top and heading over to Stanbury before tuning left and heading to Oxenhope and up the climb.
This is one steep incline. And on cobbles. The crowds are staying respectfully clear as the septet out front climb up in single file. And there's the pub at the top where I had my 21st a good few years back. (Peter Scrivener in BBC Live Reporting)

In all, there was 3,000m of climbing on Sunday but no ascent looked prettier than the cobbles of Haworth village; once the home of the Brontë sisters. (Matt Lawton in Daily Mail)

So descriptive powers of a high order are needed in the commentary box to give any sense of the passing landscape and its context. Sadly, the ITV team, led by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, rarely rose to the occasion: “This reminds me of a Hovis advert,” was their offering from the Brontë sisters’ home town of Haworth. (Martin Vander Weyer in The Telegraph)

And it is hard to think of any greater challenge to the soul than the cultural terrain of Yorkshire: the excruciating passions of Wuthering Heights, tortured love in which landscape and climate form essential elements of the torture. This is literature born in the frigid air of the parsonage. In a group portrait, the Brontë sisters—Emily who delivered Wuthering Heights, Charlotte who delivered Jane Eyre, and Anne The Tentant of Wildfell Hall (sic)— exude a dark, introverted vision of 19th century enslaved womanhood that only the bleakness of the Yorkshire moors could validate.
The Brontës laid a basic foundation of what has become the Yorkshire brand: A forbidding and yet majestic land in which masochism is an essential part of character building. (Clive Irving in The Daily Beast)

Nursing a few muscle aches, the second day saw the cyclists cycle out of York across Ilkley Moor not “Baht ‘at” as in the words of the traditional song but with their cycle helmets on, up the cobbled main street of Haworth made famous by the Brontë family through Todmorden into Huddersfield and ascend the long steep climb to Holme Moss. (The Star)

The second stage from York to Sheffield on Sunday scuttles up Holme Moss and through Haworth, where the Brontë sisters wrote Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and also diverts briefly into Lancashire. During the 201km ride there are eight climbs: the landscapes are stunning but savage too. (Sean Ingle in The Guardian)

Briefer mentions can be found in Irish Mirror,  Manchester Evening News, International Business Times, The Mirror, The Huffington Post, The Times (and here), Le Vif, France Info...

EDIT:  You can listen to Jolien Janzing, the author of De Meester, talking about the Brontës in the Dutch station Sporza.

Anne Rice Examiner interviews Anne Rice, of course:

Who is your favorite fictional literary hero and heroine and why?
Pip in "Great Expectations" is my favorite hero. Jane in "Jane Eyre" is undoubtedly my favorite heroine. (Nola Cancel)

The Independent compares Yorkshire and France:

For every Georges Danton there is a William Wilberforce, for every Emile Zola there is a Charlotte Brontë and for every Dr Antoine Louis (the man who invented the guillotine) there is a James Henry Atkinson (the man who invented the mousetrap). However, in terms of quality, quantity and sheer breadth of achievement (think Claude Monet, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Louis Pasteur), France wins hands down. (Jack Simpson)

Bastrop Daily Enterprise reviews the novel The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton:

Such a concept can't help bring to mind classic tales of women who feel like prisoners within their homes, such as "Rebecca" or "Jane Eyre," but this book fails to create the same feeling of urgency. (Ashley Mott)

Carrick Times talks about the Northern Ireland's Perfect Library initiative:

Classic novels like To Kill a Mockingbird and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights can be found within the list alongside future-focused Hollywood movie titles like The Hunger Games and Frank Herbert’s Dune.

ArtsHub  talks about the theatre play, Loveplay:

Such a device may seem like a piece of Brontë melodrama, but for me the ostracism of women from historical accounts is well symbolised by the muffled, unheard cry. (Amelia Swan)

Parma Quotidiano (Italy) talks about the Clinica Literaria in Parma:

Leggi “Le Onde” di Virginia Woolf oppure “L’angelo della tempesta” di Charlotte Brontë; insonnia? Si prescrivono i versi di Ferdinando Pessoa del “Libro dell’inquietudine”; obesità? Potrebbe aiutare “Sostiene Pereira” di Antonio Tabucchi o anche “A mille miglia da Kensington” della scozzese Muriel Spark. (Translation)

Librópatas (Spain) mentions Charlotte Brontë's comments on Jane Austen:

Algunas veces el odio era simplemente por cuestiones literarias, como ocurría con Charlotte Brontë y lo poco que le gustaba Jane Austen (odiar a Jane Austen es una especie de deporte literario, por cierto, y hay más escritores que odiaron a Jane). (Translation)