The coolest Brontë

A contributor to Literary Hub argues that 'Emerald Fennell’s 'Wuthering Heights' is good, actually'.

Before you descend to the comments/clutter up my mentions about this, some context for what kind of cultural consumer I am: I would so much rather see some insane-concept Shakespeare than the classical-dress one. Which leads me to put a clarifying question to you, dear reader: what are you looking for in an adaptation? Are you looking for a one-to-one analogue? By that metric, The Shining is inarguably a terrible adaptation—but as I’ve said elsewhere and as I’m sure many would agree, Kubrick’s film is a great adaptation because it does a spectacular job adapting its source material, which is to say taking the original and transmuting it into something new, something different, and yet something that nevertheless feels of-a-piece. So it is with Fennell’s film! (Although, to be clear: I’m not here to tell you Wuthering Heights is an equivalent piece of film-making—it isn’t.)

There was a lot of flack being flung at this Heights for being all vibes, but honestly, why not do that with an adaptation? Adapting a classic novel is always going to be a risk, because generations of people have read it and culturally it has become something everyone has a vague opinion about—so you’re always going to have people who are mad that it didn’t include X thing that they really cared deeply about.

And Emily Brontë has always been the coolest (slash “weirdest“) of the Brontë sisters, the one onto whom you can project the most—and whose single book was resolutely cooler, sexier, stranger than the combined works of either of her sisters. So why not make a sumptuous Gothic feast of a film lensed through a Millennial’s memories of the covers of supermarket-checkout-line bodice-rippers they maybe wanted to be reading instead when they were first assigned the Brontës?

Give me this kind of weirdo interpretation over yet-another-stuffy-period-piece any day! I’m going to remember some of the images from this film forever (the leeches! the houses, both of them! the very-Millay-esque piles of gin bottles!) while other aspects fade entirely—which is, funnily enough, exactly what has happened to me with the actual novel. (Drew Broussard)

According to Digital Spy, Wuthering Heights 2026 is 'just one of the star-studded must-watches coming to Prime Video'. The Teen Magazine has a track-by-track review of Charli XCX's Wuthering Heights album.

Broadway World reports that an adaptation of Jane Eyre will be on stage at the Mercury Theatre Colchester in September.

A brand new production of Jane Eyre, based on Sally Cookson, Mike Akers and the original company's adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë novel, will come to the Mercury Theatre Colchester in September.

Jane Eyre will be directed by Lily Dyble as a result of her winning the 2025 Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award.

The co-production, supported by a grant from the RTST, will premiere at the Mercury Theatre from 26 September to 10 October, before touring to Rose Theatre from 13 to 24 October, Northern Stage from 3 to 7 November and Storyhouse from 10 to 21 November. [...]

Director, Lily Dyble says, “What I see at the heart of this story is courage in the face of the unknown. Jane Eyre reminds us of the risk and enormity of love, but also how uncertainty can breed hope, as well as fear; that we can choose to fiercely love each other and ourselves, even within chaos, and even when our old lives have been lost to the fire. I'm thrilled to be bringing Jane's story to audiences across England this autumn, with the support of four wonderful venues and the RTST.”

Artistic Director of Mercury Theatre, Natasha Rickman says, “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Lily Dyble, who is a director of real vision and talent. We are thrilled also to be co-producing this with our friends at the Rose, Storyhouse and Northern Stage, and to be collaborating with the brilliant RTST; the Sir Peter Hall Director Award spotlights so much extraordinary talent throughout their process each year, and it was a joy to meet so many brilliant artists. I cannot wait to see Lily's staging of this epic and gripping story and to share it with audiences across the country, alongside our co-producers.” (Stephi Wild)

Also reported by Daily Gazette.

Starts at 60 features Natasha Lester's novel The Chateau on Sunset.

There’s a certain pull to stories that take something familiar and rework it into something new. With The Chateau on Sunset, Natasha Lester has taken Jane Eyre and placed it inside one of Hollywood’s most infamous hotels, the Chateau Marmont. The result leans into the glamour of the era while exposing what sat behind it. [...]

The idea did not begin in Los Angeles. It came to her on a train in Italy.

“I was sitting on a train to Florence, thinking about books I’d enjoyed,” Lester says. “Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano was one, which is loosely based on Little Women. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver was another. Suddenly the idea popped into my head as I looked out at the Northern Italian countryside. What if I did something like that with one of my favourite books, Jane Eyre?”

That moment shaped the direction of the novel. It also changed how she approached the story. She started with a literary foundation and asked what might happen if it unfolded in a place defined by fame, power and secrecy.

Her connection to Jane Eyre runs deeper than admiration. It is tied to what she believes the original heroine never truly received.

“Jane Eyre was a woman who yearned for liberty. She looked at the horizon and longed to go beyond it,” Lester says. “The ending is romantically satisfying, but she never really got what she most wanted. That didn’t seem fair.”

That sense of unfinished business became central to the novel.

“I wanted to write a story where Jane got both a romantically satisfying and a personally satisfying ending. An ending that such a great heroine deserved.”

The Chateau Marmont plays a strong role in the story, and its presence came about unexpectedly.

“I was struggling to find the voice of the story,” she says. “I started handwriting pieces just to see where my imagination would take me. In one of those, the Marmont took on a voice and a sense of itself. I loved it.”

From there, the hotel developed into something that feels watchful, holding onto the secrets of the people who pass through it. That reflects the real history of the Marmont, long associated with excess and scandal.

Researching Hollywood’s Golden Age revealed a version of the era that contrasts sharply with its polished image.

“There was a lot of ugliness beneath the glamour,” Lester says. “Women were fighting every day against a very male-controlled studio system that wanted to take away their power.”

That tension carries through the novel, particularly in how women were labelled, controlled and often silenced. Many of those stories were hidden or reframed at the time. (Emily Darlow)

Independent has an article on 'The charming Peak District valley with a defiant history' and mentions its Eyre connection:

No visit to the Peaks would be complete without a stop at the village of Hathersage, home to a heated open-air pool. It’s an idyllic village with a literacy legacy; its rugged landscapes inspired Jane Eyre (there’s even a Jane Eyre walking trail) (Jake Hall)

According to Times Now News, 'You don’t need to read 100 classics, just these 5 will change you' and Jane Eyre is one of them.

Daily Express has an 'Exclusive!' and goes on to tell about a recent plague of beetles in Haworth (not a metaphor for tourists, apparently).

A plague of beetles have caused havoc for visitors flocking to the village made famous by classic novel turned current blockbuster Wuthering Heights. Swarms of the flying insects created mayhem when they descended on the picturesque village of Haworth where people travel from all over the world to visit the Parsonage where the Brontë sisters Emily, Charlotte and Anne lived.

The aggressive beetles descended during last week’s warm weather converging on the mass of visitors making a homage to the historic West Yorkshire village, and now museum bosses and hospitality venues are bracing themselves for more summer swarms with warmer weather again on the horizon. According to one member of staff at the Parsonage the insects “came out of nowhere” on Wednesday lunchtime and were the worst he had ever experienced. He told people being as they queued outside the venue: “I was in the adjacent fields this morning and they were not there then, but suddenly around lunchtime they just appeared. There are lots of fields around so flies insects are not unusual but I’ve never known anything quite like this.”

One visitor Amelie, 21, from Edinburgh told how she had been enjoying al fresco lunch with her family on a café on the main street when they were suddenly “bombarded.”

She said: “We’d just found a lovely sunny spot and had just ordered our lunch when I spotted a beetle land on my drink glass. Then another landed, and another, and then I started feeling them on my neck, on my arms and on my legs. They were everywhere and by the time our meal arrived, we and everyone around us were swatting away like mad.

“But it got even worse once we joined the queue for the Parsonage and was so bad at one stage we considered abandoning our trip. It was better once we got inside, but they had found their way inside everyone’s clothing and it was pretty horrible to be honest. We were still finding them hours after we left Haworth – they seemed pretty invincible bugs but at least they didn’t bite. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come this summer.”

Katherine Hill, 53, from Leeds said: "It was such a beautiful spring day in one of my favourite places to visit. But the beetles caused mayhem, people were pulling them out of their shoes, their clothing, their hair and their ears. They were so small and there was just no escape - even inside the museum." (Paul Jeeves)

The blunder of the day comes from The Economic Times which misattributes to Emily Brontë a quote penned by Charlotte in an 1841 letter: 'If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results'.