In the footsteps of the Brontës after lockdown

The Yorkshire Post, like all of us, has its sights on the end of lockdown. First of all it recommends some 'Must-see film and TV locations to combine with Yorkshire staycations after lockdown'.

Bradford

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Bronte Country is also a draw for literature lovers, with locations such as Haworth offering bundles of charm for visitors wanting to see where film versions were made on long walks. It's a stop on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a service which has been used numerous times in screen productions. (John Blow)

And secondly, it suggests '9 of the best walking holiday locations in Yorkshire to escape to after lockdown', such as

1. Haworth

Home of the famous Brontë sisters, the pretty village of Haworth is surrounded by beautiful countryside, with footpaths leading to famous sites including the Brontë waterfall, Brontë bridge and Top Withens, while the Brontë Way stretches for 43 miles and takes around four days to complete. (Claire Schofield)

The Guardian has selected the 'Top 10 books about children fending for themselves'. No Brontë has made it directly to the list but Jane Eyre is there via 

4. Milkman by Anna Burns

Burns captures the absurdity of childhood in the midst of armed conflict. The unnamed narrator defies expectations because she’s not interested in babies or bombs, but books. “Longest friend” advises against her “deviant” behaviour of walking while reading. “Are you saying it’s okay to go around with Semtex but not okay for me to read Jane Eyre in public?” The narrator catches the unwanted predatory attention of a paramilitary called Milkman. “I came to understand how much I’d been closed down, how much I’d been thwarted into a carefully constructed nothingness by that man,” she says, “by the community, by the very mental atmosphere, that minutiae of invasion”. (Una Mannion)

The Guardian also features the winner of the Costa book of the year award, The Mermaid of Black Conch’s author Monique Roffe.

It’s really not as simple as that, Roffey points out: “I think if you unravel female jealousy, you find the patriarchy. It’s a competition for the alpha male, and we’ve ever been thus. Our patriarchy is highly internalised.”

One result of that internalisation has been the “madwoman in the attic trope”, which was transported into Caribbean literature by Jean Rhys via her novel Wide Sargasso Sea, which reinvents the first Mrs Rochester from Jane Eyre as a white Creole. “I think we’ve had enough of this historic, hysterical Freudian woman,” says Roffey. “I have every respect for Rhys, but we need new, different types of characters coming out of the region. (Claire Armitstead)

IOL (South Africa) has interviewed actor Tom Wilkinson about his role as Earl of Brockenhurst in the period drama Belgravia.

Why do we love period drama so much?

The Jane Austens and the Brontës tell really good stories which are very easy to watch.

From a narrative point of view, they are excellent stories, and that's why we keep coming back to them.

They are wonderful tales, and that's the reason why they have lasted.

There's an article on women publishing behind pseudonyms in Periódico Correo (Mexico). The Sisters' Room follows in Anne Brontë's footsteps in York.