Jane Eyre's own room

Penguin takes a look at some mothers and types of mothering in a selection of Vintage books.

Helen Graham in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë’s utterly gorgeous novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, is widely considered to be one of the very first feminist books. Helen Graham escapes an abusive marriage to an alcoholic husband, arriving at Wildfell Hall with her young son to pursue a career as an artist. In 1848 such actions were unheard of, and indeed Helen soon falls prey to rumour, becoming a social outcast for the unconventional choices she has made to protect her son.
‘And why should I take it for granted that my son will be one in a thousand? – and not rather prepare for the worst, and suppose he will be like his – like the rest of mankind, unless I take care to prevent it?’

Forward features Italian author Natalia Ginzburg and wonders,

It was 1991, and Ginzburg, born to a Jewish father and Catholic mother in Palermo, Sicily, in 1916, was seen as one of the great Italian authors of the 20th century. That recognition had been long in coming, William H. Honan wrote, because Ginzburg had initially been “dismissed as a minor writer because of her preoccupation with family life.”
Among the women novelists who preceded Ginzburg, who might not have been similarly dismissed? Jane Austen; the Brontë sisters; George Eliot; history was full of writers who had shaped the canon, often publishing anonymously or under masculine pen names, precisely through their focus on the domestic circles to which women were often constrained. Rejecting the idea that such material could make for interesting fiction was a way of denying the possibility that an ordinary life — let alone an ordinary woman’s life — might hold cultural value. (Talya Zax)

Stylist recommends '20 unmissable audiobooks narrated by incredible women':

Want to be able to read and cook at the same time? Considering getting your literary fix whilst doing a spot of gardening? Exercise and Emily Brontë? We have the solution: pop in your earphones, get that audiobook on, and hey presto, you have a completely free set of hands! [...]
Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (Narrated by Thandie Newton)
In terms of badass classic female writers, they don’t often get better than the Brontë sisters. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is still a cultural favourite, with numerous film versions made over the years. The audiobook allows you to follow the story of Jane and Mr Rochester to the dulcet tones of Thandie Newton. Thandie herself says that we love Jane Eyre because of Brontë’s capacity to “relate, expertly, what it means to be a human being…”
If you are yet to try the novel, the audiobook is the perfect opportunity to get involved, or if you’d like to revisit the classic, why not give it a listen this time? (Rachel Brown)

Florida Weekly Fort Myers reports that,

The Online Computer Library Center in Ohio recently released “The Library 100: Top Novels of All Time,” a listing of the top 100 novels found in libraries around the world. The list was culled from data from WorldCat, the world’s largest database of library materials. [...]
The top 10 read like a list off of a high school or college syllabus — or off of what would have been required reading when my parents attended school.
In descending order, they are: “Don Quixote” by Miguel Cervantes, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, “Treasure Island” by Robert Lewis Stevenson,” “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin, “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë, “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathanial [sic] Hawthorne. (Nancy Stetson)

L'indépendant (France) recommends Aline Brosh McKenna and Ramon K. Perez's Jane.

Chef-d’œuvre de la littérature anglo-saxonne, Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë sert de base à un roman graphique passionnant. A l’adaptation, la scénariste du film « Le diable s’habille en Prada » et de la série TV Crazy ex-Girlfriend, Aline Brosh McKenna. Au dessin, Ramon K. Perez, lauréat de multiples Eisner Award. Jane, jeune orpheline, à sa majorité, tente sa chance à New York. Elle s’inscrit dans une école de dessin. Mais il lui faut décrocher un petit boulot. Là voilà nounou d’Adèle, une fillette délaissée par son père, Rochester, riche magnat de la finance.
On est séduit par la lente complicité qui s’instaure entre Jane et la petite fille qui a un parcours si semblable au sien. Une romance sympa, palpitante à la fin, bénéficiant du dessin virtuose de Perez. Il est autant à l’aise dans les ambiances douces et romantiques que dans les scènes du quotidien ou quand la violence s’invite. (Michel Litout) (Translation)

Keighley News recalls the fact that 1987 film

Rita, Sue and Bob Too was filmed at locations including Bradford’s Buttershaw estate and the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth. (David Knights)

El mundo (Spain) tells about Carme Portaceli's next project: after adapting and directing Jane Eyre, she will tackle Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.

«Virginia Woolf fue muy importante para el feminismo», explica Portaceli, «Una habitación propia es uno de mis libros de cabecera. Ahí, con toda su ironía y esa gran cultura, explica que las mujeres necesitamos una habitación para nosotras y nuestro propio dinero para poder ser independientes. Eso es algo que ya había anticipado Charlotte Brontë, que sólo deja que Jane Eyre vuelva con Rochester, cuando recibe una herencia y por tanto no depende de él. Cuando su relación es de igual a igual, regresa junto a él». (José Luis Romo) (Translation)

On The Sisters' Room Maddalena De Leo posts about the Brontë Society publication Charlotte Brontë. The Lost Manuscripts.