Moody, cold, and full of yearning

The Telegraph & Argus features the Brontë Birthplace reopening and the possibility of spending the night in one of their rooms:

The Brontë Birthplace in Thornton, Bradford, welcomed visitors in March, marking a major milestone in literary heritage by opening its doors more than 200 years after Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne Brontë were born there.

Nigel West, fundraising co-ordinator for the Brontë Birthplace project, said: "It is an amazing story of Bradford City of Culture 2025 using their legacy funding and then 770 members contributing and the formation of a Community Benefit Society that will protect the Birthplace for the community.

"It is the most important heritage opening anywhere in the UK this year and as significant to this country as Shakespeare's birthplace." (...)

In May, following a significant refurbishment, Her Majesty Queen Camilla officially opened the house as a museum and education centre.

The site also now offers visitors the opportunity to stay overnight in some of its historic rooms.

Public engagement has been at the heart of the project, with the launch of the Be More Brontë campaign dedicated to encouraging children to embrace new life challenges.

The house has since become a lively hub of activity, hosting author talks, educational workshops, and theatre performances.

Mr West said: “This year has been a dream come true for everyone involved in the Birthplace project.

“We cannot wait to see what 2026 will hold for this amazing little house which has provided a lasting legacy for Thornton, Bradford and Brontë fans worldwide.” (Josh Price)

Epigram tries to answer the question: Should you read the novel before watching the adaptation, or not? The case in point is Wuthering Heights:

In case you’ve been blissfully unaware of the storm brewing online, the latest film adaptation of Wuthering Heights (2026), directed by Emerald Fennell of Saltburn (2023) fame, is slated for release on Valentine’s Day 2026, and it’s already sparked plenty of controversy. Fans of the novel have taken issue with Margot Robbie (Catherine Earnshaw) being ‘too old’ to play a nineteen-year-old, voiced concerns that Fennell will oversaturate the film with explicit sexual content given her Saltburn-shadowed reputation, and even questioned Charli XCX’s involvement in the score. (...)

Historically, Wuthering Heights has enjoyed considerable success on screen. The most infamous adaptation is arguably the 1939 Academy Award–winning film starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, while the 1992 version featuring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, in his film debut, also remains well known. But to appreciate the novel fully, we have to return to its origins.

In 1847, before the tragic series of Brontë family deaths, Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The novel received a mixed critical response, including disapproval from her own sister, Charlotte Brontë, who dismissed it as the work of a 'wild' younger sibling, unable to recognise its beauty. Following the sisters’ deaths, however, the novel settled into its now-cemented status as a literary classic.

Its iconic, windswept West Yorkshire setting, a landscape that mirrors Cathy and Heathcliff’s untameable natures, the nuanced framing of Nelly Dean, and the intricate multi-generational family saga are just a few of the qualities that make the novel so enduring. They’re also why I return to it time and time again, especially at this time of year, something I’ve yet to experience with any of its adaptations. And, notably, I have never seen a film give Nelly Dean (our partial narrator) the importance she deserves. (Millie Hicks and Betsan Branson Wiliam)

Mt. Sterling's Advocate selects the top screen-inspired travel destinations in 2026:

The dales and moors of Yorkshire are a well-established muse for writers and visual artists. Most recently, the region has served as the romantic location for “Wuthering Heights” and “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.” The North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the Yorkshire Dales make appearances in both and are a must-see when visiting. Make sure to squeeze in a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where the Brontë family lived from 1820 to 1861. The historic space offers fascinating insight into the lives of the three Brontë sisters and the world that inspired “Wuthering Heights.” (Jeannette Moses)

The Bubble encourages you to read Wuthering Heights this winter break:

This classic’s bleakness is both exacerbated by its biting wintery setting and undermined by the burning intensity of Heathcliff and Catherine’s passions. Moody, cold, and full of yearning, this book takes you on a dramatic journey of desire and its devastations. For fans of gothic themes, questionable figures and anything remotely melodramatic. (Autumn Huxtable)

Mashable India reviews the film The Housemaid by Paul Feig, which adapts the novels by Freida McFadden:

The madwoman in the attic has been a central plot in literary fiction. The phrase highlights the historical tendency to label non-conforming women as insane, locking them away physically or socially, using ‘madness’ or ‘sickness’ to silence them, their experiences— a theme explored in literary works beyond Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 classic Jane Eyre. The 1966 postmodern novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a perfect example for authors to reimagine the stories centring around the madwoman in the attic. What if it was Mr Rochester after all?

A similar theme is followed in The Housemaid. But here, the ‘madwoman in the attic’ refuses to stay silent and decidedly takes her revenge in the twisty tale. Since I have not read McFadden’s book, I cannot compare and state if it is a well adaptation. However, as the plot thickened, the climax was satisfactory. (...)

The Housemaid may not be a literary fiction in the tradition of Jane Eyre. But it’s modernised, fun and convincing to watch for the ending that the woman in the attic should actually get. (Madhurima Sarkar)

Now I've Seen Everything discusses literary characters that have changed their looks in the movie adaptations. Concerning Jane Eyre 2011:

The director of the film, Cary Fukunaga, said that when he was choosing the actor for the part of Rochester, he realized that there were people that looked more like the book character, but he still felt that Michael Fassbender was a better choice. Charlotte Brontë described Rochester as a man with a heavy brow, dark hair and brown eyes, big nostrils, and a stern face. (Olga G.)

Yahoo Entertainment publishes a new biography of Emily Brontë with some mentions of the upcoming 2026 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Cosmopolitan lists a quote from Jane Eyre in a heartbreaking list quotes. A Brontë question is included in the Big Good Housekeeping Quiz of the Year. AnneBrontë.org comes to the ninth day of Christmas: dancing. A hard one.