'Jane Eyre - for her intelligence, self-sufficiency and personal evolution'

The Bookseller announces the acquisition by Quercus of a Jane Eyre retelling to be published in 2021.

Quercus has acquired The Deception of Harriet Fleet, a historical fiction debut set in the landscape of County Durham, described as a "recasting of Jane Eyre" that is "chilling, dark and brimming with suspense".
Jane Wood, publisher, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Giles Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Agency. She said: "This novel swept me back to the Brontës and those fantastic 19th works that we grew up with. Yet The Deception of Harriet Fleet has an added dimension. Seen through modern eyes, the book reminds us how frustrating life was then for clever women who dared to voice the slightest intellectual ambition. I believe this novel will appeal to women of all ages and look forward eagerly to launching it."
The book's author is Helen Scarlett, an English teacher of over 20 years. She said: "I'm absolutely thrilled that The Deception of Harriet Fleet will be published by Quercus. I couldn't think of a better home for my novel and I'm so excited to be working with someone as talented and knowledgeable as Jane. I've also been lucky with all the support I've received from my wonderful agent Giles Milburn. I'm really looking forward to seeing my first novel in print."
Quercus will publish in spring 2021. (Katherine Cowdrey)

Good Housekeeping has Margaret Atwood share her favourite books.

Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen/ Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Two books that made a big impact on me as a teenager were Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. They both taught me a lot about the type of men I probably shouldn’t get involved with. Not every man who is rude to you has a secret heart of gold and not every boy who acts like a biker ought to be your true love! (Joanne Finney)

Khaleej Times (UAE) interviews book blogger Mavra Rana.

Who would you consider a memorable literary character?
Jane Eyre - for her intelligence, self-sufficiency and personal evolution. She was my first feminist heroine. (Maheshpreet Kaur Narula)

Yorkshire Post features the weekend of events to mark Anne Lister's birthday next year (April 2-5), which is booked solid already

Brighton-based lesbian travel specialists Diva Destinations have organised a bespoke tour which includes talks in Halifax Minster by the BBC period drama's director Sally Wainwright and authors Helena Whitbread, Jill Liddington and Anne Choma, who have all written about the life of Anne Lister. Whitbread deciphered Anne's coded diaries in the 1980s, when they were discovered hidden behind a wall panel at her ancestral home, Shibden Hall.
1,800 tickets for the Anne Lister Birthday Weekend in April 2020 were released for exclusive sale via a Facebook fan page, and have now completely sold out. Demand was so high that 500 tickets for Wainwright's public appearance were snapped up within half an hour - faster than Glastonbury Festival.
Jennifer Grant from Diva Destinations has teamed up with New York-based Pat Estgate to organise the weekend, which will see clients - many of whom are expected to travel from the US - visit Gentleman Jack locations in both Halifax and York.
Jennifer ran two successful Gentleman Jack tours of Yorkshire in October, when the groups consisted of '100 per cent lesbian women' who were both inspired and fascinated by 19th-century Halifax businesswoman Anne Lister's story.
The itinerary - which will be repeated for the April trip - included Shibden Hall, The Piece Hall, Halifax Library - where the original Lister journals are kept - and Somerset House, which was once the Lister family's bank, Rawson's. They explored St Matthew's Church in Lightcliffe, where Anne's same-sex partner Ann Walker is buried, and the remains of the Walkers' estate, Crow Nest, and saw Anne's grave at Halifax Minster.
In York they visited Holy Trinity Church on Goodramgate, where Anne 'married' Ann Walker during an Easter service, and King's Manor, a university building which was once a girls' boarding school attended by Anne.
"It has been an amazing phenomenon, and we are riding a fantastic wave of interest in an incredible story that just keeps evolving," said Jennifer, who also plans to organise Last Tango in Halifax and Bronte-themed tours to Yorkshire to meet customer demand. (Grace Newton)

An article on classic beauty products on Allure begins by evoking the 'allure' of classics.

There's just something about the allure of the classics, something almost ephemeral that draws you in. Maybe it's the shared cultural touchpoint — that everyone sees a peacock blue Ford Thunderbird, a selection of Katharine Hepburn's oeuvre, or a yellowed paperback from one of the Brontes sisters and has to stop and hold their breath for a second, take a second look, watch a minute, flip a page. There’s something that keeps you from skimming right over it, makes you rest for a second there and appreciate this, and know that someone a generation before you appreciated this, too, because it as good.
There a reason that you hold onto a classic, and it's more than something that sits squarely on the heartstrings of nostalgia — it's the genesis. It works. It earned its title through design or results. It was good for your great grandparents and its kept up its sparkle. And the best part is you know exactly what you're getting. Getting something new is a dopamine hit, an exciting tease. But you know what's even better than the thrill of the new? The thrill of something that has proven itself a superstar time and time again. (Cotton Codinha)

The Brontë Parsonage Blog lists the Anne Brontë bicentenary events that will take place in Scarborough in January/February. The Sisters' Room features Charlotte's rings as part of their Treasures from the Brontë Parsonage Museum series. Brontë Society Italy has announced the 9th edition of the Premio Nazionale De Leo-Brontë.