Thornbush Farm to be auctioned

Screen Daily reports that Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights has already started filming in the the UK.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi has begun filming in the UK at Sky Studios Elstree for Warner Bros. 

Based on the Emily Brontë novel, the story centres on the intense relationship between the daughter of a well-to-do family and the mysterious orphaned boy they take in.

Further cast include Hong Chau, Alison Oliver and Shazad Latif.

Fennell has written the screenplay and has a producer credit alongside Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment. MRC is financing the film.

Warner Bros has set a February 2026 release date. (Ellie Calnan)

The Yorkshire Post reports that Thornbush Farm, where Patrick Brontë lived once, is to be auctioned.

The Reverend Brontë, the father of the writers Emily, Charlotte and Anne, lived at the West Yorkshire farm in the early 19th century. Fans of the Brontës will get the chance to restore the building if they submit a successful bid in a property auction.

A spokesman said: “Thornbush Farm on Miry Lane is now in a derelict state, but in the 19th century it featured two sturdy adjoining stone cottages and was better known as Lousy Farm. In 1811, it became the home of the future Brontë patriarch, Reverend Patrick Brontë, marking the foundation of one of the most famous literary families in Britain.

"Reverend Patrick lived at the farm after taking up his first full ministry, lodging with his landlords Mr and Mrs Bedford. While there, he met and married his wife, Maria Branwell, and they had the first of their two children, Maria and Elizabeth, who sadly died during childhood. He also found time to author and publish his first work, Cottage Poems.”

During their time at the cottage, the family witnessed part of the Luddite riots and the march to Rawfords Mill, which went past their front door. This event was later described by Charlotte Brontë in her novel Shirley. (Greg Wright)

The Telegraph and Argus reports it as well:

A derelict farm that was once home to the father of the Brontë sisters is set to be auctioned.

Thornbush Farm on Miry Lane, Liversedge, will be sold by Auction House West Yorkshire on February 5.

The Reverend Patrick Brontë's former lodging has a guide price of £380,000, plus fees.

While the property is currently in a derelict state, in the 19th century it featured two sturdy adjoining stone cottages and was better known as Lousy Farm.

In 1811, it became the home of the future Brontë patriarch, "marking"- per a spokesperson for Auction House - "the foundation of one of the most famous literary families in Britain."

The farm is set in 8.5 acres of land and has "gorgeous" countryside views.

The Reverend lived at the farm after taking up his first full ministry.

He lodged there with his landlords, Mr and Mrs Bedford.

While there, he met and married his wife, Maria Branwell, and they had the first of their two children, Maria and Elizabeth, who sadly died during childhood.

He also found time to author and publish 'Cottage Poems.'

During their time at the cottage, the family witnessed Luddite riots and a march on Rawfolds Mill, which bypassed their front door.

This event was later written about by Charlotte Brontë in her novel 'Shirley.'

The young family are thought to have remained at Lousy Farm until around 1815, thereafter living at Thornton, the birthplace of the authors Emily, Charlotte, and Anne, and of their brother, Branwell.

Commenting on the property, director and auctioneer of Auction House West Yorkshire, James Pank, said: "This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of a site with a fascinating history and perhaps restore or reimagine a vital piece of Britain’s literary heritage."

Thornbush Farm in Liversedge will be sold via livestream auction on February 5 at 12pm.

To learn more about the property or to book a viewing, buyers can call Auction House West Yorkshire on 0113 393 3482 or visit https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/westyorkshire (Will Abbott)

Also in Country Life:

The popular image of the Brontë family — the world-famous novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne, their impressive father Patrick, and their rather less famous brother Branwell — is one that’s indelibly linked to Haworth, the surrounding moors, and Haworth Parsonage itself where the three girls grew up. (Also Branwell.)

The famous parsonage wasn’t the original family home, however. After graduating from Cambridge in 1806, the Irish-born clergyman and writer Patrick Brontë had several different postings within the Church of England, living in Essex and Shropshire before eventually ending up in Yorkshire. He became a curate based at the Church of St Peter in Hartshead, near Liversedge, in 1811; and whilst there lived at the chillingly-named Lousy Farm. During this stint he met Maria Branwell, who he fell in love with and married on 29 December, 1812. And Lousy Farm, where they first lived as husband and wife, is now for sale via Auction House West Yorkshire.

The farm is now entirely dilapidated, which is the bad news. The good news, for literary fans looking to snap up a piece of Brontë history, is that it’s in the February 5 auction with a guide price of just £380,000, to include the buildings and almost eight acres of land. Considering that this is in the heart of West Yorkshire, between Leeds and Huddersfield, that’s a lot of land for the price.

Then again, it’s clear that a lot of money — a lot — will have to be spent on the property to return it to any sort of useful state.

Fiction Matters interviews Layne Fargo about her novel The Favorites:

Sara Hildreth: Can you give readers a brief summary of The Favorites for those who haven't read it yet?

Layne Fargo: A modern retelling of Wuthering Heights about the toxic, decades-spanning romance between a pair of hot mess ice dancers.

SH: Can you share your initial inspiration for the novel? How and at what point in the writing process did Wuthering Heights come into The Favorites?

LF: The Favorites came out of two other failed projects: a Gothic romance and a thriller about rival ice dance teams. I kept bouncing back and forth between the two, desperately trying to make them work but they just… didn’t. I picked up Wuthering Heights, which I hadn’t read since high school, hoping to find some inspiration for the Gothic book, and instead I thought: what about a Wuthering Heights retelling with ice dancers? Then I thought I’d lost my mind (this was deep into the pandemic FYI, when we were all feeling a little unhinged!), but my critique partner assured me it was a good idea. So I went for it and quickly found that mashing up Wuthering Heights and figure skating worked better than I could have imagined.

Sara’s note: When I heard about this premise I immediately knew it was genius because of partner swapping. The world of ice dancing is full of messy breakups and new partnerships and so is the Gothic tale of Wuthering Heights.

SH: What are some of your favorite nods to WH and the Brontës that appear in your novel?

LF: Pretty much all the character names are Brontë Easter eggs. Jane Currer = Jane Eyre + Charlotte Brontë’s pen name Currer Bell. Inez Acton = Agnes Gray (Inez is the Spanish version of Agnes) + Anne Brontë’s pen name Acton Bell. And of course Ellis Dean is Nelly Dean from Wuthering Heights + Emily Brontë’s pen name Ellis Bell!

I can’t get too specific about this one because it’s a spoiler, but there’s a character whose last name came from a real-life person who said some not so nice things about Emily Brontë back in the day — so giving their surname to this particular character is my petty literary revenge.

The Collector lists the '5 Most Influential English Ghost Stories' and one of them is

Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë’s Gothic masterpiece is remembered for its tempestuous lovers, windswept moors and tragic family drama. However, when creating her novel, Emily Brontë chose to open with a violent and terrifying ghostly encounter. In the opening of the novel, Lockwood (the narrator), spends the night in a forbidden bedroom after being caught in a storm. He has read the names Catherine alongside Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton, all carved in the wooden window frame.

As he sleeps, he is awoken by a knocking on the window pane and, thinking it a branch, reaches out to break it. The reader is then startled to read that Linton’s wrist is grasped by the ice-cold fingers of Cathy’s ghost. Her specter cries that she has been ‘a waif for twenty years,’ have inspired countless other works of fiction including the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. (Lauren Jones)

Cosmopolitan labels Jane Eyre as a 'sad girl'. 

Sad girls have existed in literature for hundreds of years like my girl Jane Eyre. (Zoulfa Katouh)

The New York Times on Maria Grazia Chiuri's designs for Dior:

Since she arrived at Dior in 2016, Ms. Chiuri has often resolutely focused on clothes so subtly accessible they can verge on the banal. But though there were pieces like that in the show, including a great little sleeveless black trapeze shift with ruffles for straps, it was the skirts, built on a carapace of bamboo, covered in trailing vines of flowers made from raffia, feathers and lace, and resembling the love child of an octopus and a parasol, that dominated. Also the playsuits and bloomers (items of clothing that normally have no place in a grown-up woman’s wardrobe) made from tulle covered in appliqués that seemed to swirl around the body like mist, popping out from under buttoned-up Jane Eyre jackets as though impossible to restrain. (Vanessa Friedman)