Clearly one of the three greatest novels of the 19th century

The Telegraph and Argus features the recent unveiling of Nancy Garrs's headstone at Undercliffe Cemetery in Bradford.

As well as Nancy’s name, the headstone bears the names of her relatives James Scholey, Mary Stocks (her sister) and John William Scholey. Nancy’s mother buried in an unmarked grave with another of Nancy’s sisters, Elizabeth. Engraved on Nancy’s headstone is a poem, Parting, written by Charlotte in 1838: “There’s no use in weeping, Though we are condemned to part, There’s such a thing as keeping, A remembrance in one’s heart”.

For most of Nancy’s life she had treasured gifts from Patrick and his children, including what is thought to be a photograph of Charlotte on glass. But these ‘Brontë relics’ end up with her nephew, John Hodgson Widdop, a Manchester Road draper. Through his research, Stephen discovered that Widdop was bankrupt and served time in prison. In the late 1880s he sold three Brontë relics, including a letter by Patrick to Nancy, to the Parsonage Museum. Nancy’s obituary in the Keighley News on April 3, 1886 read: “All her means were gone and she accepted the workhouse as an asylum wherein to spend the remainder of her days.”

Nancy has been added to a list of ‘Bradford Worthies’ at Undercliffe Cemetery, whose stories have been researched by volunteers. “Nancy was a faithful servant of the Brontës and had a significant impact on the children. She took them for moorland walks and was involved in their early stories,” says Stephen, who this week led a guided tour of the cemetery for Bradford Literature Festival. “As well as civic and industrial leaders we remember people like Nancy who did good things but, as ordinary working people, were erased from history.” (Emma Clayton)

The Guardian asks author Julian Barnes bookish questions:

The book I discovered later in life

Jane Eyre, clearly one of the three greatest novels of the 19th century, along with Persuasion and Middlemarch.

The New York Times on 'How TikTok Became a Best Seller Machine'.

Sales were initially concentrated among young adult titles, but BookTok is now even more powerful in adult fiction, according to BookScan. Romance is another major category, followed closely by science fiction and fantasy. But even classics like “Wuthering Heights” and “The Great Gatsby” get some TikTok love. (Elizabeth A. Harris)

Salon argues that the lure of Stranger Things is not the '80s but forgotten childhood freedom.

Anyone who writes or reads stories involving children knows a key component: get the parents out of the way. Growing up, my favorite stories were about orphans. From "Anne of Green Gables" to "Jane Eyre," children can't get in trouble, an essential part of fiction, if parents are there, solving everything. Or, if Google is there. Or, cell phones. (Alison Stine)