The Brontë Society has launched a campaign to raise £25,000 before the end of October to stop the treasures from being split up and falling into the hands of private collectors.
Rebecca Yorke, interim director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said, “After lying undiscovered for so many years, it is only right that these invaluable Brontë works return to Yorkshire where they can be enjoyed by local residents and the people who flock to the sisters’ home county from all over the world.
“The Brontë Society is thrilled to have the chance to save this incredibly rare collection and bring it back home where it will be enjoyed by so many, and we ask that anyone who is able to help us reach our £25,000 target to please do so as soon as possible, as there is only a short amount of time left to raise the funds required.”
The Society has joined with other museums, literary houses and libraries across the country to save the collection, led by the Friends of the National Libraries, having been given the opportunity to do by Sotheby’s.
Some £15m is needed to purchase the whole collection, which also includes works and manuscripts by manuscripts by Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell and William Shakespeare.
Ann Dinsdale, principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage in Haworth, recently had the opportunity to see and handle the manuscripts.
She said: “It was an incredibly moving experience, just incredible.
“Seeing that material laid out on a table in front of us – it brought tears to my eyes. It’s probably the most important literary collection that is still in private hands.
“It has such amazing treasures mainly connected to the North of England, so it’s really important that this rare material belongs in this country, to all of us.
“The plan is that we will be able to save it for the nation.”
If the fundraiser is successful, the Brontë collection will be split between the Parsonage at Haworth, which operates as a museum dedicated to the family, the British Library and the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. (Victoria Finan)
Within These Wicked Walls – Lauren Blackwood
Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls is an Ethiopian-inspired fantasy retelling of Charlotte Bronte’s classic Jane Eyre, described as Kiersten White meets Tomi Adeyemi. This is enough of a reason for me to immediately want to give this book a try, but your mileage may vary.
The story follows Andromeda who is a debtera, a specific kind of exorcist whose specialty is cleaning households of the Evil Eye. But when she’s hired by the handsome young Magnus Rochester, Andromeda realizes that the house – and Magnus himself – hides secrets that are darker and more frightening than anything she’s been trained to handle.
Unsure how to face an evil power that’s stronger than anything she’s imagined, Andromeda also knows she can’t leave Magnus behind to face this darkness alone. But how she’ll survive the almost certain death that roams the halls – well, that’s anyone’s guess.
The official synopsis is brief but to the point.
Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option. Evil may roam the castle’s halls, but so does a burning desire. (Lacy Baugher)
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