Everything a modern Brontë fan could ask for

Book Trib features the novel In the Quick by Kate Hope Day. 

What really sets this book apart from something like The Martian (one of its comp titles) is the fact that In the Quick is a not-so-secret Jane Eyre retelling. While it’s entirely possible to start reading the story without realizing this, it’s impossible to unsee it once you do. (And if you haven’t read Jane Eyre yet, you have little excuse! Since it’s in the public domain, it’s readily available as a free Kindle book.)

Of course, the setting is rather different from Jane Eyre’s brooding Moor House. After years at boarding school, our quiet but fiercely brilliant June spends time on a space station before a brief trip back to Earth and then, finally, off to a remote moon base. But while the swirling pink sands surrounding her are clearly not the Moors, the atmosphere they create is every bit as mysterious and alluring, by turns riddled with danger and desperately romantic.

It’s at the moon base where the most iconic Jane Eyre scenes are transported and transformed. June’s sullen James isn’t exactly Mr. Rochester, but he serves the role as well as any 19th-century gentleman. Throw in a mysterious nocturnal fire, plenty of secrets and an urgent search for the truth, and you’ve got everything a modern Brontë fan could ask for.

Unfortunately, the result is a book that may struggle with readers who are not delighted by the parallels to Gothic literature. To be fair, as a classic retelling in space, it more than does its job with abundant charm and playful nods to the source material. (Jenn Gott)

La Tercera (Chile) interviews writer María Moreno about her new novel Contramarcha.

La lista de autores que María Moreno destaca a través de las páginas de Contramarcha es variopinta: Edmundo de Amicis, Norman Mailer, Italo Calvino, Charlotte Brontë, Silvina Bullrich, Víctor Hugo, Julio Cortázar. Pero hay una a quien le dedica muchísimo espacio: Simone de Beauvoir. (Pablo Retamal N.) (Translation)

The Telegraph looks at the costume design in the film Ammonite:

[Michael] O’Connor, who was the designer on Jane Eyre, The Duchess and the forthcoming Emily (about Emily Brontë), is no pedant, but he loves period costume, particularly Victorian. (Lisa Armstrong)

Yale News reports that, 'Yale Center for British Art exhibit stakes out space for women artists'.

Gardner’s lithograph is grouped in “Women and Institutions” with two other works: Paula Rego’s lithograph “Jane Eyre” (2001–2002) and Carrie Mae Weems’s 2007 black-and-white photograph, “When and Where I Enter the British Museum.” (Mike Cummings)

Nantwich News features Apocalypse of Clowns, the second poetry album by Fall in Green.

‘Dead Hand’ is Fall in Green’s own dark take on Wuthering Heights. 

The Hindu Business Line has a quiz on people who changed their names.

9 What specifically connects the adopted names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, George Eliot, George Sand, Isak Dinesen and James Tiptree Jr? (Joy Bhattacharjya)

The Week has listed Ponden Hall among the 'Best Grade I and II properties' for sale in the UK.

Finally, a lovely peek behind the scenes at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Our Curatorial team have been hard at work this week checking and cleaning parts of our collection - we thought you might appreciate a sneak peek at their delicate and painstaking work. pic.twitter.com/LrnvwTvQRH

— Brontë Parsonage (@BronteParsonage) March 26, 2021