When I say I have been yearning for Emerald Fennell’s book to screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights, that’s putting it lightly. Especially now we’ve heard from the Saltburn director herself on what we can expect from her version of Emily Brontë’s famous classic.Arriving at Cineworld on 13th February, you can book tickets now to see it in IMAX and Superscreen.While the purists are in uproar over casting, historical accuracy, and the like of Wuthering Heights, I couldn’t be more excited to see something that is sure to be so visually eye-catching and entirely Emerald Fennell. Who doesn’t love a good passionate yet soul-destroying love story?Emerald wanted to create an adaptation that encompassed how it felt to read it for the first timeEveryone experiences art differently, whether it’s a book or a film. This is Emerald Fennell’s version of Wuthering Heights, both the way she experienced it as a teenager, as well as everything she hoped for but didn’t get. It’s an amalgamation of Brontë’s work with Fennell’s own whimsical, lovesick imagination. And we can all relate to that, right?That’s what Margot Robbie had to say about it in an interview with Fandango, and the idea has me absolutely enchanted. “There’s been so many movies and TV series and stuff made, but I think the point of difference here is this is Emerald making you feel the way the book made her feel when she read it.”When talking about taking on an adaptation of a book as pivotal as this, Fennell said, “Look, there’s a version that I remembered reading that isn’t quite real. And there’s a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never did. And so it is Wuthering Heights, and it isn’t.”If you’ve watched any of Emerald Fennell’s other movies, you’ll be very happy to be back inside her head for Wuthering Heights, that’s for sure. It’s all provocative fun and a little bit of weirdness.Emerald wants us to cry so hard we vomit while watching Wuthering HeightsIn the same all-cast interview, Robbie also pulled back the curtain on something else Fennell had disclosed with the star about her hopes for the adaptation: “I want people to cry so hard they vomit.”Sobbing? Crying? It’s all the same thing at this point. And we all know Emerald loves bodily fluids if that bathtub scene in Saltburn is anything to go by.Whether you find that visual disgusting or not, I think this is a pretty great indicator of how tumultuous this adaptation is going to be. And I’m ready to be ruined – if that wasn’t already completely obvious.The way Emerald Fennells talks about the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is just everythingIf you’re not here for stories that find love in unlikely places or it being so wrong it’s right, then fine, maybe this isn’t for you. Like I said, I love a story that emotionally ruins me, and that’s exactly how Fennell describes it.“When I first read it, it destroyed me. But it didn’t just destroy me, because it’s beautiful and it’s sad. It’s a very destabilising work of art. It’s a very complicated thing, because what Emily Brontë asks us to do is to love two– In fact, not two, a whole realm of incredibly difficult and unlovable characters.”There’s nothing more interesting to me than, you know, making everyone fall in love with people who maybe aren’t traditionally lovable.”Hell yes, sign me up!Emerald Fennell’s explanation of the quotation marks around Wuthering Heights and her commitment to the classic that she lovesSome may disagree on this, but I actually think Emerald Fennell really respects Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in its original form, and that she shows that appreciation by completely cutting it up and sticking it back together in a way that is entirely different.The fact of the matter is you’ll never be able to adapt something completely faithfully. Still, Fennell put the work in – speaking to the Brontë parsonage and to other fans of the book in order to create something they feel a part of.However, when talking about the choice of quote marks around the title on the film poster, Fennell said, The thing for me is that you can’t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can’t say I’m making Wuthering Heights. It’s not possible. What I can say is I’m making a version of it.”Also, as previously pointed out by the queen Margot Robbie, there’s been a lot of adaptations. What’s the point in producing the same thing again? Here for female directors putting their own stamp on things and creating something completely left field and fun.The costume design is just incredibleSure, fine, they’re not exactly accurate to the period, but what Jacqueline Durran has achieved is simply enchanting. Described as “a fantasy of a fantasy”, tailored to the character rather than the time period of the book.Margot Robbie’s Cathy is a blonde bombshell sporting German milkmaid-esque corsets and Elton John sunglasses that would put the musician to shame.In an interview with Vogue Australia, Duran shared that between 45 and 50 costumes were made for Cathy, with inspiration taken anywhere from Elizabethan to Victorian times, to the 1950s, and more modern styles.It’s all beautifully meshed together, incredibly bold, and, yes, provocative.The skin wall is insane – as are all the other visualsThe costumes are amazing – but, holy moly, can we take a moment to talk about the visuals? All we have to go on is the trailer, but I am simply obsessed with the skin wall and a frustrated Cathy that we see thrown against it, digging her fingers into the flesh.Then there’s Thrushcross Grange, baby blue and there in miniature too as the dollhouse, with shots of Cathy mirrored as both a doll and Margot Robbie in all her beauty. Of course, there’s the dramatic Yorkshire moors, too, and the pooling red vinyl floor that seems to continue off of Cathy’s dramatic bloodred skirt.This movie is about to be my entire personality.Charli xcx has written the soundtrackShe gave us BRAT summer, and now she’s giving us whimsical winter with her tracks for the Wuthering Heights soundtrack. A few tracks have already been released ahead of the film, including “Chains of Love” which I’m simply obsessed with.I think it’s a choice to have one artist signed on for the whole soundtrack. It’s giving seamless. It’s giving capsule. It’s giving chic. And I think Charli xcx’s sound is perfect – electric and experimental while still being sultry and maybe a little bit dirty. (Alice Marshall)
Do you believe films based on literature have a duty to be faithful to the source material, or should filmmakers run with their interpretations?I tend to favor adaptations that try to capture the spirit of the literary base-text, as opposed to total fidelity. The most recent Frankenstein, for instance, also starring Jacob Elordi, veers wildly from Shelley’s original, yet seems also to convey the wonderfully complex strangeness that she built into her amazing novel. In terms of Wuthering Heights adaptations, I appreciate the versions that try to account for the multi-generational aspect of her plot. Most film versions stick to Cathy and Heathcliff. Cutting the entire second half of the novel isn’t in keeping with the spirit of her work.Yes, “Wuthering Heights” is most famous for the romance between Catherine and Heathcliff. What other aspects deserve more attention?Certainly, the second half of the novel, which centers on the children of the key first-half figures, deserves more filmic representation. Versions that only give us the first half undercut the complexity of Brontë’s non-linear plot, not to mention the various doppelganger effects at play. The novel’s emphasis on cycles of violence and the extent to which the past haunts the present gather particular force in the novel’s second half. I also think that Nelly [Dean] deserves more attention. While she’s not the narrator proper (that’s Lockwood, in the novel’s framing device), she’s nevertheless the key to all information that we get about both the Earnshaws and the Lintons in the novel.What about “Wuthering Heights” is often misunderstood by modern audiences?I think that the drama of the tortured love theme often distracts away from the emphasis Brontë places throughout the novel on properties and possessions. This is a novel deeply interested in who owns what — and how they come into that ownership. While the supernatural theme doubles down on “possession,” it’s Brontë’s critical view of the patriarchal arrangements of the material world that carries the most force.Of past film versions of the book, which is your favorite and why?All of them have flaws; some are pretty terrible. While I show clips from different versions in class, my favorite is Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 adaption, which stars Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. There are weird things about it, no doubt, but I appreciate the efforts to translate the spirit of the work while also attending to the entirety of Brontë’s plotting.Why is it important to keep discussions of “Wuthering Heights” and other classic works alive today?Classic works such as Brontë’s novel matter more than ever because they force us to think deeply about the complexities of our shared humanity. Human existence cannot be reduced to convenient binaries. “Wuthering Heights,” for instance, asks us to question our tendency to conceive of people as either insiders or outsiders. Classic literary works, like all great art, challenge us to reflect on matters of sameness and difference, to develop empathy for others, and to better understand the ways that the past informs the present. (J.D. Valdepenas)
If you have clicked through and are reading this article right now, I assume you are in one of two camps. Perhaps you’ve actually read Wuthering Heights and think I’m a complete idiot for making it decades without reading or understanding the plot of Emily Bronttë’s seminal work. Or, perhaps you are a person who, like me, has not yet read the book ahead of its upcoming big screen adaptation, and weren’t so sure about the tone of Emerald Fennell’s 2026 movie release.If you are in the latter camp, I must warn you the movie is not an epic romance. Yes, I’m as shocked as you (maybe) are. I honestly only know this because I went to an all-hands meeting with the CinemaBlend team the other day and enthusiastically spoke about Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie doing a romance together. It was awkward crickets in the room for a hot minute before my colleague finally told me I needed to reset my expectations about what’s coming in Wuthering Heights. Embarrassing? Positively. Was I grateful for the heads up? Only time will tell.To my credit, Valentine’s Day is usually a big weekend at the box office for some sort of romantic flick. This slot can lend itself to some darker romances like Fifty Shades of Grey, but a lot of February releases tend to be lighthearted, like How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days or Hitch. So, sorry I didn’t totally get the memo here with Wuthering Heights.I honestly probably should have seen this turn of events coming. I did see Saltburn, and it was one of the wildest movies tonally I’d ever gotten through. Given Fennell’s track record with that movie and Promising Young Woman, I suppose I should have expected some complications outside of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi staring adoringly into one another’s eyes.Listen: I know I’ve outed myself as ridiculously uninformed, here, but to defend myself once more: It’s not as if I thought this would be a rom-com in the vein of Emma. You can tell from the Wuthering Heights trailer there will absolutely be some drama. I know, for example, there are some familial complications, and that Heathcliff must leave to seek a fortune. From what I’ve seen, Margot Robbie’s character seems to be left with few choices in the marriage department. I guess I just assumed this would all wrap up with a neat little bow, or at least some Titanic-level romantic ending.That’s not true in the least, apparently, and we’ve either gotten some genius level marketing that will surprise audiences (I blame the use of Charli XCX’s pop track “Chains of Love”), or else I’m like the last person to know what Brontë’s novel is about. I honestly don’t want to spoil anyone or even look into how Wuthering Heights wraps, so I’m planning to go into the movie unspoiled, then read the book, now. Still, I do think it’s worth a warning that this will not be the feel good hit of 2026. Emerald Fennell clearly prefers her storytelling to be a little bit messed up, and that will continue with the release of Wuthering Heights next month. Though the casting director did even say "English lit fans" won't be happy. So, who really knows what's coming down the pipeline?Just don’t say I didn’t warn ya. (Jessica Rawden)
To keep you on your toes, we’ve also included some hot-right-now book picks here, the likes of book 6 in the “Game Changers” series (behind the sensation that is Heated Rivalry) and Wuthering Heights: the latter about to be given a new, 21st-century lease on life by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.Let the coziness commence.The Brontë Sisters Boxed Set: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, VilletteSure, Wuthering Heights is getting all the attention right now, what with its on-screen version coming to theaters a day before Valentine’s Day, but the novels of Emily Brontë’s sisters are equally era-defining. This box set from Penguin Classics has it all: from Jane Eyre, which will make someone named Mr. Rochester live in your head rent-free, to The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, a 1848 title that centers on a young widow who becomes the talk of the town courtesy of her hyper-independent and reclusive personality.The best part about this comfort-read buy: Once you devour Wuthering Heights in a few sittings, you can easily reach for another Brontë masterpiece, and then another. Maybe it’s just us, but we’d be tempted to call in sick to work — just for the sake of diving deeper into the psyches of female heroines who manage to reinvent themselves after tragic pasts. (Stacia Datskovska)
Jane Eyre (2011)Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender lead this moody and romantic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s most famous novel. After enduring a cruel and abusive childhood as an orphan, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) hopes to gain some independence by seeking employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, Jane develops a unique and complex relationship with Thornfield’s owner, the brooding Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender). While the two come to realize their feelings for each other are more than just friendly, a disturbing mystery keeps them from taking their relationship further. (Chelsey Sanchez and Ella Ceron)
A Boldness You Can Bite IntoA tale as bold and haunting as “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” deserves a companion with the same unruly pulse. Our limited film edition 12-count cookie box is a collection of decadent provocations—sweet, dark, and unexpectedly consuming—crafted for the kind of passion that refuses to behave. It’s a pairing that doesn’t ask permission; it just makes sense.WHAT'S IN THE BOX (DOZEN):IsoCookie 2x – Better With S*x (Chocolate Chip)IsoCookie 2x – Burning Desire (Chocolate Lava)IsoCookie 2x – Crimson Obsession (Red Velvet)IsoCookie 2x – Lust & Crumble (Black Forest Cake)IsoCookie 2x – Sweet Infatuation (Biscoff Crunch)IsoCookie 2x – Forbidden Fruit (Oatmeal Pear Fig)
The book I could never read againNever say never. I promise I’ll try Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Villette again, just not right now, OK?
A period drama directed by a praised writer and director has been winning over fans who call it 'beyond incredible', and it's now on the BBC iPlayer.To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters, which first aired on the BBC in 2016, is a period drama about the intense three-year period when sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë secretly published their groundbreaking novels, using masculine pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The series sees the trio overcome societal barriers, driven by their difficult home life, ailing father, and their brother Branwell's destructive addiction, ultimately leading to their individual literary fame but also personal tragedy as they fight for recognition.Written and directed by Sally Wainwright, who has created other period dramas including Gentleman Jack, the series stars Finn Atkins as Charlotte, Chloe Pirrie as Emily, Charlie Murphy as Anne and Jonathan Pryce as their father. (Niamh Spence)
Représentations dans le monde anglophone [En ligne], 29 | 2025, mis en ligne le 11 décembre 2025This article examines Caryl Phillips’s novel The Lost Child (2015) as an example of rewriting that generates a form of resurgence, evoking the impact of Britain’s past on the present social context. By inserting scenes imagining Heathcliff as the child of a former slave, Phillips creates an intertextual relation to Wuthering Heights (1847) that suggests a possible connection between the main story line and Brontë’s novel. Critics tend to highlight Phillips’s use of multiple storylines as a way of connecting past and present; this approach emphasizes the intellectual aspect of the author’s narrative strategy while failing to take fully into account the emotional dimension of his stories. A closer look at the author’s use of narrative voice enables one to measure the emotional dimension of resurgence. Dorrit Cohn’s approach to the expression of subjectivity in narrative provides theoretical tools for measuring the ways in which Phillips uses free indirect discourse and interior monologue to explore his characters’ ability (or inability) to cope with the pressures of society, thus either overcoming or succumbing to the lasting effects of slavery.
Haworth's Brontë Parsonage Museum was among the winners in the 2026 national Loo of the Year Awards, which recognise best 'away from home' washrooms.It took the 'top Changing Places' honour.Museum director Rebecca Yorke and housekeeping team member Zoë Hirst collected the award at a presentation ceremony in Birmingham.The new fully-accessible visitor toilets and changing provision at the museum opened last year. (Alistair Shand)
Spanning 3,148 acres (1,274 hectares) — roughly twice the size of Ilkley Moor — the nature reserve links eight nature sights within the Bradford and South Pennines area, including Haworth’s famed Penistone Country Park, which was home to the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. (Parul Sharma)
The great barn roofing project is the first step in a long-term development plan for Gawthorpe Hall, an Elizabethan mansion that hosted Jane Eyre author Charlotte Brontë in 1850 and 1855. (Emma Stanley)
The Dairy Arts Center has announced the second year of its Co-Production Program, a slate of seven artist-led premieres that will unfold across its stages between August 2026 and June 2027, most of them newly developed works that are still ironing out kinks. (...)“Bertha: A Story of Jane Eyre,” a devised theater work by Olivia Buntaine that re-centers a character whom literature has historically left in the attic. (Ella Cobb)
Jane Eyre(...) La novela combina romance, drama y reflexión social, abordando temas como la lucha por la independencia femenina, la igualdad, la moral y la búsqueda de la identidad personal, mostrando la evolución de Jane hacia la madurez y la realización personal.Cumbres Borrascosas(...) Entre paisajes sombríos y emociones extremas, la obra refleja la fuerza del amor obsesivo, la desigualdad social y las consecuencias de las pasiones humanas desbordadas, consolidándose como un clásico del romanticismo gótico. (Noemí Vega) (Translation)
Criatura viva como la pregunta inevitable: ¿de dónde nace esta historia? ¿desde dónde se escribe algo así: no puedo vivir sin mi vida, no puedo vivir sin mi alma? Emily Brontë, como la niebla de los páramos, no termina de mostrarse y solo nos deja rastros. Nada concluyente, nada que permita fijarla del todo. "Sígueme hasta que me enloquezcas", implora Heathcliff a su amada muerta. Quién eras tú, Emily, sino esa pregunta que insiste. No nos la perdamos. (Raquel Bada) (Translation)
Julio Hurtado: El triángulo de Distancia de fuga recuerda las grandes novelas de amor del siglo XIX, como las de Jane Austen o Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë.C.A.G._ Son las historias que me gustaba leer, y de ellas sacaba la inspiración de lo que escribía en esa época. Siempre tenían un amor imposible, muy fuerte, como sacado de quicio. Y yo quería escribir algo de amor también en algún momento. (Translation)
As a healthy portion of the Style team hail from God’s own county, it’s not news to anyone here that Yorkshire is glorious. Still, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, which after months of hype is released on February 14, may give you a yearning for a wild and wonderful staycation. Though the novel is set near Haworth, West Yorkshire, once home to Emily Brontë herself, the movie was filmed in North Yorkshire, capturing the moody valleys of Arkengarthdale and Swaledale and the village of Low Row. (Hattie Crisell)
LA: 28 JanuaryParis: 2 February at Le Grand RexLondon: 5 February at Leicester SquareSydney: 12 February at Sydney's State Theatre
Sortir à Paris talks about the European premiere in Paris.
Margot Robbie: “My next question for you. We were shooting on Valentine’s Day. You made my day and, as Heathcliff, filled my room with roses and it was so cute. What did I do for you?”Jacob Elordi: “On Valentine’s Day?”MR: “I’m asking ’cause I can’t remember.”JE: “I don’t think you did anything.”MR: “I must have done something.”JE: “No, and you know what? The thing is, I thought you would.”MR: “I’m so sorry!”JE: “I think when I did it, I felt like I beat you.”MR: “You definitely beat me. Yours was so epic… I remember thinking on Valentine’s Day, oh he’s probably a very good boyfriend, ’cause there’s a lot of thoughtfulness in this. You did a lot of very thoughtful things. It wasn’t just the gesture of the roses, it was the thing written from Heathcliff, and that little tombstone thing. I was like, ah, crafts! Love that. It was crafty, it was meaningful, it was dramatic. (Hannah-Rose Yee)
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The life-size Victorian-era stagecoach is designed to look like it’s straight out of the film. Think fogged-up windows, dripping condensation, subtle rocking, and silhouetted hands pressed against the glass, a cheeky, cinematic tease that gives passersby a glimpse of the passion audiences can expect when the film hits theatres. (Mursal Rahman in View the Vibe)
Gran parte de su familia directa fueron sus principales fuentes de inspiración. Su padre Patrick Brontë, un hombre inteligente e inusual; su madre Maria Branwell, quien murió dejando a sus seis hijos muy pequeños; su tía Elizabeth Branwell, quien las crió con disciplina; sus hermanas Charlotte y Anne, autoras de ‘Jane Erye (sic)’ y ‘ El inquilino de Wildfell Hall ’, con quienes compartía la pasión por la literatura gótica y los efectos del sexismo de la época que obligaba a las mujer a publicar bajo pseudónimos; y su hermano Patrick, de quien conocía historias tremendas. (Pamela Vázquez) (Translation)
Other websites unpack some of the recent interviews and information about the film: La Vanguardia, Bollywood Shaadis, The Standard, Ary News, NME, Lifestyle Asia, Screenrant, Bleeding Cool, USA Today, The Express Tribune, Pinkvilla, FandowWire, La V!bra, Netflix Junkie, Primetimer, SoapCentral, MusicMundial, El Decano de Guadalajara, e-Cartelera, Los Tomatazos, Ronda, Revista AD, Antena 3, Meristation, Quién, infobae, El Tiempo, Crónica, Mundo Deportivo, Chic Magazine, Radio Tiempo, Página 12, Minuto Uno, El Sol de México, Excelsior, La Razón, El Imparcial, La Hora, El Pueblo, Telegrafi, Meganerd, Movieplayer, ComingSoon, DonnaModerna, SWR, People, Sports Illustrated...
La canción se abre con cuerdas orquestales de aire casi terrorífico, como si el romanticismo clásico se hubiera contaminado con un miedo contemporáneo. No hay aquí estribillo de euforia ni la ironía hedonista que Charli XCX sabe dominar. Su voz aparece más cruda, más cercana, casi desprotegida, colocada sobre una producción que empuja hacia lo ritual. (...)Lo interesante no es solo que Charli XCX haga un giro estético, sino desde dónde lo hace. En un ecosistema musical que obliga a muchas mujeres a repetir la fórmula que mejor funciona —a mantenerse “reconocibles”, agradables, rentables—, ella se permite lo contrario: incomodar, volver raro lo que estaba claro, poner el cuerpo creativo en riesgo. Y en esa valentía hay algo particularmente feminista: el derecho a mutar sin pedir disculpas, el derecho a dejar de ser un producto estable. (María Serrano) (Translation)
Rock and Pop also talks about Charli XCX's new song.
The Victorian World25 January 2026, 18:00Marking the 125th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria, a celebration of her reign with readings by Roger Allam and Janie Dee. (...)The Victorians were greatly taken with matters of the heart, both the familial, which Augusta Webster’s poem ‘Mother and Daughter’ touchingly depicts, and the romantic as expressed in Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ or the extract from Victoria’s diary describing her wedding night with her beloved Albert.
Mon 26 Jan, 8:00pmJane Austen and Charlotte Brontë lived decades apart and imagined very different heroines — yet for much or all of their lives, both were unmarried daughters and sisters, deeply embedded in the domestic worlds that helped shape their creativity. From sewing shirts for their brothers to stitching quilts with their sisters, they balanced creative ambition with the daily demands of sewing, caregiving, and domestic responsibility.This fascinating talk by Eleanor Houghton explores how making, sewing, gifting, budgeting and writing sustained their families and supported their art. Drawing on letters, novels, and surviving garments, accessories and made objects, it reflects on how dress, feminine accomplishment, domestic labour, and familial duty helped shape two of the most enduring literary voices in English literature.
This event is part of Jane Austen's House Pride and Prejudice Festival, 24-28 January 2026
The influence of British colonialism on the Brontës and their work is examined in a new exhibition.The Colonial Brontës focuses on the period of exploration, conquest and intercultural encounters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.And it illustrates the extent to which the literary siblings were fascinated by colonial military campaigns and British missionary activity.The exhibition – at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth – opens on Wednesday, February 4, and continues until January 1, 2027.Professor Corinne Fowler, honorary professor of colonialism and heritage at the University of Leicester, is a co-curator of the event.She says: "The Brontë children were avid readers and their literary imaginations were fired up by what they learned about British colonial activity in Africa and India."This exhibition reveals that the young Brontës fictionalised real-life colonial battles, British explorers, missionaries and Asante warriors. It identifies their source material and traces the influence of empire writing into their mature works, particularly Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights."In 1826, Charlotte – then aged 10 – nine-year-old Branwell , Emily, eight, and Anne, six, invented their own colonies, collectively called the Glass Town Federation.They used the imaginary world as a setting for stories, poems and plays.Their 'kingdom' was inspired by the real-life Asante Empire in West Africa, an area regularly in the news of the day.Ann Dinsdale, principal curator at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, says: "This exhibition shows how these young Yorkshire children interpreted world news, incorporating it into their play and later their adult writings. That they were able to look critically at global events gave them a world view that was ahead of its time."And Rebecca Yorke, museum director, says: "We are delighted that Professor Fowler accepted our invitation to co-curate this exhibition with us. Academics and readers alike have long discussed the influence of colonial Britain on the Brontës’ lives and works, particularly in relation to the story of Heathcliff, and with a new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights about to be released it is a fitting time to explore the connections between what the Brontës read and wrote."Exhibits include manuscripts created by the Brontës as children, items relating to race and Heathcliff’s ethnicity, reading materials – with handwritten notes and doodles – and matchbox-sized miniature books. (Alistair Shand)
A stunning nature reserve, whose landscape famously inspired the Brontë sisters, is being touted as a must-see for nature enthusiasts and wildlife lovers.This pioneering nature reserve in West Yorkshire has been making waves after recently being named one of the wonders of the world to visit in 2026 by esteemed international travel magazine, Condé Nast Traveller.The picturesque reserve was established in May 2025 as part of King Charles' initiative of 25 National Nature Reserves (NNRs), designed to conserve wildlife and celebrate UK landscapes by providing enhanced protection to the unique topography within these designated areas.Covering 3,148 acres (1,274 hectares) - roughly double the size of Ilkley Moor - the reserve connects eight natural sites within the Bradford and South Pennines area, including the famous Penistone Country Park in Haworth, once home to the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. (Parul Sharma)
I came to Brontë country fully signed up for the unfiltered Wuthering Heights experience: the tumult of windswept moors, storm-beaten farmhouses, haunting heroines, nature wild and untamed. I didn’t think it would turn its full fury against me.I’ve been halted on a riverside track that leads to the stone farmhouse where I’m staying, set on a hillside in the Yorkshire Dales. [...]I’m not sure how long it takes me to reach the house; all I remember is more barely passable breaches, clinging on to a mossy stone wall here, a rotten plank there, while the river gnashed at my legs. I couldn’t help but compare my state to Cathy’s after one of her outdoor misadventures — “as dismal as a drowned whelp” — but this wasn’t the immersive Wuthering Heights experience I had in mind.To the south, a stretch of the Pennines in Lancashire and West Yorkshire has been a magnet for Brontë tourists since the 19th century. The sisters’ eternally alluring novels, their rootedness in this landscape, and the mythology surrounding Emily, Charlotte and Anne’s genius — Emily being the most enigmatic of all — have birthed what can feel like an open-air literary theme park.Any connection to the family or their work, true or tenuous, will appear on a bus route, walking map or TikTok video. And each film adaptation attracts a new wave of Brontë pilgrims. The latest version of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell, lands on February 13 and Brontë country is bracing itself for the Insta-crowd, along with the notion of Cathy (Margot Robbie) in red latex and Charli XCX picking up Kate Bush’s hooded mantle on the soundtrack.I started my tour at the latest attraction to open to the public, the Brontë Birthplace, part museum, part magical guesthouse. Nothing tenuous about this link: the three authors and their brother Branwell were born in the house in the village of Thornton, a few miles west of Bradford. Emily was barely a toddler when the family left in 1820 for the famous parsonage at Haworth, but it’s an ideal scene-setter for my pilgrimage.Anna Gibson, the Brontë Birthplace general manager, tells me that when the eponymous non-profit society bought the terraced house in 2023, it had been “split into flats, shops, restaurants, all sorts” over the previous two centuries. For many years, a butcher’s shop had its sausage-making machine in front of the very hearth where the novelists are said to have been born.Restored and opened last year, there are three bedrooms. I’m the lone guest on this January midweek night, so choose the largest, where Emily slept alongside her siblings — there were six children under the age of six in the house (not a typo, and none were twins). At a window, a small mahogany mirror marks the spot where their father Patrick is said to have shaved, looking onto Market Street below.The fireplace, like most in the Birthplace, is original, but not the furnishings; most available Brontë furniture has been snapped up over the past century or so by the Brontë Society for the Haworth parsonage, now a museum. Instead, the dark wood pieces here are sourced locally, says Gibson, dated “1820 or a bit earlier, because they weren’t wealthy people and some of it would have been second-hand”. An exception to the faithful staging is my bed, a four-poster that’s closer to the luxury Charlotte might have afforded later in life, as the only sibling who survived long enough to enjoy her income.Left alone, I can’t resist creeping around the house in the middle of the night, imagining the torch on my phone to be a chamberstick candle. The room I’d love to revisit in the dark is the maids’ quarters in the attic above the kitchen, with its low ceiling, narrow stone staircase, rocking chair and creepy nursery furniture. When Gibson showed me the attic room earlier, she told me a visiting YouTuber had opened a cupboard, only to feel like she was poked in the eye by an invisible hand.But, alas, the room is only accessible in the daytime. I realise I’m being ridiculous: I only stepped off the train in Leeds a few hours ago and I’m already yearning to be haunted by my favourite Victorian novelist girl-crush.Day breaks, and I have been ignored by any tiny Brontë ghosts. The Birthplace has a new café but doesn’t yet offer breakfast. Instead I walk a couple of minutes to Plenty at the Square, a wholesome vegetarian spot linked to a community arts hub where, in view of the incoming storm, a fellow diner and a waitress insist on giving me cardboard boxes to wedge under my tyres in case I get stuck (I will).Past some of Thornton’s well-preserved narrow alleys, as well as 20th-century housing and a bypass, is a graveyard where the ruin of the Old Bell Chapel lies. This, along with an ivy-covered octagonal bell tower, is all that remains of the church where Patrick Brontë served as curate. It’s deliciously gloomy in the pale grey mist.I’m in the mood for the stuff of the novel. The moors are calling.It’s early January and daylight is limited, but there’s time for one of the shorter walks to Top Withins, a ruined farmhouse on the moors west of Haworth — a place long associated with the Earnshaw homestead that gives Emily’s only novel its title. From the village of Stanbury, it’s only a couple of kilometres, partly on a path that today would be better suited to crampons than to my trusty Merrell’s. After passing some empty stone houses, I reach Top Withins and look out at a panorama of desolation, frozen and starkly beautiful.The craggy ruin is marked by a plaque that bears the tone of a purse-lipped postwar Brontë Society volunteer: yes, its “situation may have been in her mind” when Emily wrote Wuthering Heights but no, the building “bore no resemblance to the house she described”. Today, it’s a perfect match for the account Lockwood, the visiting southerner, recounts of his first approach to the house: “On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb”. There’s even a closet-sized room with two small holes for casement windows — impossible not to imagine Cathy’s “ice-cold hand”.Over the afternoon I spot just a few walkers — all, unlike me, prepared with trekking poles — and hear only a “sleet-laden wind” and the call of grouse. On the way back, pheasants’ footprints have joined mine in the snow. Suddenly a dark slab of concrete sky is descending and urges me onwards to the house that for the rest of my stay will be my real-life “perfect misanthropist’s heaven” (as a naive Lockwood idealises the neighbourhood he’ll share with Heathcliff).Like the location scouts for Fennell’s film, I’ve decided that to capture the isolation of Emily’s fictional farmhouse, today’s Brontë trail won’t do. I head north to Cowside, a late-17th-century stone farmhouse in the Langstrothdale valley, a little over an hour’s drive from Haworth. The surrounding land is still used for grazing, punctuated by field barns and drystone walls; Cowside still has its old piggery and henhouse.The Landmark Trust, which restores historic buildings and opens them to guests, has returned the house to its form circa 1800. Inside, there are flagstone floors, mullioned windows, moulded ceiling beams — but also underfloor heating, soft linens and wood burners in the inglenook and stone fireplaces. Most transportive is a quote from Corinthians, uncovered during the restoration, painted in gothic script on the walls of the parlour: “Whether ye eat, or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”Even without a flash flood, reaching Cowside isn’t the easiest for a city-dwelling bookworm. After the riverside track — SUV recommended — there’s a climb of about 300 metres with all your wood and food for your stay (a wheelbarrow is provided).But I am smitten, tending my fires, reading my books during wintry nights of true darkness and silence broken only by a nearby owl or creaking branches. This is the place to find yourself inside the spaces of Emily’s novel; to experience a “life of such complete exile from the world”, as the residents of Wuthering Heights do.If Brontë country is a literary theme park, Haworth’s Brontë Parsonage Museum is its Magic Kingdom. This is where Emily lived from 1820 until her death in 1848; it’s where all the Brontës wrote their novels.I tour the parsonage with Sam Harrison, its programme officer. The carefully preserved rooms are quiet, and other visitors — a tall couple dressed in formal black, a mother and daughter with an endearing shared enthusiasm — talk in hushed tones or not at all. The most important space is the dining room, housing the table where Emily, Anne, Branwell and Charlotte wrote, and around which they would promenade while sharing their work. The letter “E” is roughly engraved on its top, though no one can prove Emily is the culprit.The most evocative piece of furniture is also here: the couch where Emily died, aged 30, three months after Branwell and six months before Anne. Some fans burst into tears upon seeing it, Harrison tells me. Opposite, the windows look directly onto the graveyard, through which each Brontë (except Anne, buried in Scarborough) was carried to the family vault under the church; their mother Maria had been first, when Emily was three, followed by the eldest siblings Maria and Elizabeth, 11 and 10. It would have been an even starker sight then, with no trees to soften the view, nor curtains. Patrick refused to install them, having held too many funerals of children who had died in house fires. Little wonder that Emily has young Catherine say, “I feel and see only death!”In spite of the numerous biographies, we know little about Emily as a person, adding weight to the clues offered by each of her possessions. Almost all are the tools or product of creative discipline. She played the cabinet piano in Patrick’s study; there’s her portable rosewood writing desk with pens, nibs and blobs of sealing wax; her mahogany paintbox and geometry set; and minutely detailed sketches and paintings by all the siblings.Their father was a published author of poetry, fiction and political prose, and kept a good stock of books. It all belies the myth, started by Charlotte, that Emily, having “no worldly wisdom”, wrote “from the impulses of nature”. The residents of this house were serious about art and literature.And yet, all that mythmaking succeeded in bringing us here. Since it opened in 1928 people have visited from all over the world; at the entrance I count printed guides in a dozen languages. What would the Brontës make of all this? “They’d probably think we’re mad — ‘What are you doing putting our stockings on display?’ — but I like to think they’d be amused by it all,” says Harrison.After paying respects at the Brontë chapel and vault inside the church, it’s a few steps to the open country. The parsonage really is right on the edge of the moor. Death on one side, untamed wilderness on the other. For Branwell, there was a third way: the Black Bull Inn, where, along with the apothecary where he procured his laudanum, the struggling Brontë brother fed his addictions. In the pub’s lunchtime din I find the mason’s chair said to be his, under a stained-glass window. Legend has it that when his family came looking for him, he’d escape through the kitchen.A signposted route from the graveyard through Penistone Hill Country Park and across Haworth Moor leads to the Brontë Waterfall, which makes a sweet site together with the “Brontë chair” (a seat-shaped rock) and a rebuild of the diminutive Brontë Bridge (the original was swept away by a flash flood in 1989). On dry days, the falls can be underwhelming. On my second visit, after the snowmelt, it’s gushing. This circular route continues to Top Withins and Ponden Hall, a house associated with the fictional Thrushcross Grange (and now partly an Airbnb).It must be said that the Brontë associations claimed for some sites are about as authentic as the pun-riddled merch on Haworth’s Main Street, from mugs to haunted dolls to droll “Never Mind the Brontës” pastiches (mimicking the cover of the Sex Pistols’ single “God Save the Queen”).Yet fan fantasy is endemic to the Brontë business. Like Shakespeare, their universal themes are ripe for modern retelling, Emily’s scant biography bound to draw speculation, clashing claims, even tedious controversy. We might see Wuthering Heights’ adaptability tested to the limit next month. But everyone I meet, from Anna Gibson at the Brontë Birthplace to the cashier at the Parsonage Museum gift shop, shares a superfan’s excitement about the new film. (Maria Crawford)
In a recent Fandango interview, the filmmaker and her star, Margot Robbie, suggested their aim is for a visceral reaction to the film. Robbie recalled how Fennell spoke about the goal she hoped to achieve with the audience. “One of the first things Emerald said to me was, ‘I want people to cry so hard they vomit.’ I was like, ‘This sounds very appropriate, actually,’” she laughed.I don’t think I’ve ever had such a reaction to a movie. Hell, has anyone? If this did happen to you, I hope you sought medical attention.Fennell recently stated that she aimed for “Wuthering Heights” to “become this generation’s Titanic.” She’s described shooting the film as this self‑inflicted emotional challenge — “a kind of masochistic exercise.” This project, in her words, is the film she’s been waiting to make her entire life. Meanwhile, Robbie claims her co-star, Jacob Elordi, is so good in the film that she’s convinced he’s “this generation’s Daniel Day-Lewis.”On a side note, pre-sales for “Wuthering Heights” are currently strong, hinting at a $30M-$35M domestic opening weekend. This would easily be the biggest box office opener of Jacob Elordi’s career, and Margot Robbie first hit since “Barbie.”Furthermore, the film recently got stamped with an “R” rating: for “sexual content.” Test screenings had mentioned the notable amount of hyper-sexualized imagery — far more explicit than any previous adaptation of this material. The runtime listed on AMC’s website is 135 minutes.“Wuthering Heights” has a production/distribution budget reported at around $80M. That figure largely reflects the deal Warner Bros. struck to acquire and back the film after a competitive bidding war — including a higher reported offer of around $150M from Netflix that Fennell and her producers ultimately declined in favor of a theatrical rollout. (Jordan Ruimy)
When we meet in the run up to Christmas, the 28-year-old is making the most of her time off before embarking on a global press tour for Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell's sensationally anticipated interpretation of Emily Brontë's classic gothic novel about the destructive love affair between Catherine 'Cathy' Earnshaw (played by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi).Oliver plays Isabella Linton, the spoiled sister of Edgar Linton, whom Cathy marries. 'She’s a very repressed character who is desperate for love,' says Oliver, explaining Fennell's version of Isabella. 'Emerald’s interpretation of Isabella’s story is the reverse of Cathy's; there's an uncorseting of her. Like she becomes undone. There’s something so powerful about being underestimated.'The role was given to Oliver early on via a text from Fennell, who she had previously worked with on Saltburn, in which Oliver played the blonde, chain-smoking Venetia Catton. 'She said, if you want Isabella, she's yours.' Fennell had Oliver in mind from the beginning. 'She is the most remarkable actor,' says the director over Zoom. 'We saw so many people for Saltburn, and Alison came in and was just so unbelievably real. Even the way she breathes is different.' A similar crew worked on the two films, which were both written and directed by Fennell.'And yet a lot of people didn't recognise Alison,' Fennell laughs. 'She's so good that she disappears.'Much like Saltburn, Wuthering Heights has been setting the internet alight, with claims of oversexualisation, historical inaccuracies and whitewashing (Heathcliff is described as 'dark skinned' in the book), all before its release. Fennell brings in her own idiosyncratic reimagining with music by Charli XCX and provocative scenes – the film reportedly opens with a public hanging in which a man ejaculates mid-execution.'It’s how Emerald experienced the book when she read it as a teenager,' says Oliver. 'So it's not what's on the page, and I don't think that's what it's trying to be.' Does she think the film will make a Saltburn-style splash? 'You’ll never be bored by an Emerald Fennell film,' the actor replies, carefully. 'I think it will make noise, but you never know how things are going to be taken. I’ve learnt that it's not really my business to worry about that.' (Olivia Petter)
Elysia is part of the Visitor Experience team at the Parsonage, volunteers for the Publishing Post and recently completed a Master's degree in Nineteenth-century studies.
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Saturday 24th January–March 2026Brontë Birthplace, ThorntonWe are delighted to announce Garett Wilde as our next Artist in Residence at the Brontë Birthplace.American-born photographer and Social Media Marketing Manager, Garett Wilde now lives locally in Haworth and draws deep inspiration from the landscapes, architecture, and atmosphere of the Brontë Country. His work captures the intimate details of the moorlands and historic built environment, shaped by a profound admiration for the Brontë Sisters and the folklore, and history of the region.Garett’s photography is immersive and evocative, focusing on natural light across the four seasons to reveal the raw, magical qualities of the landscape he walks daily. His work invites viewers to slow down, observe closely, and experience Brontë Country through a contemplative lens — while also reflecting his passion for travel and exploration beyond the moors.Brontë Country and Beyond forms part of our ongoing Artist in Residence programme, celebrating contemporary creatives whose work resonates with the spirit, landscape, and legacy of the Brontës.
Shepherding is also just something you can do in England’s more inhospitable environments, where other forms of working the land aren’t going to turn much of a profit. That means you’ll see a lot of sheep in adaptations of books by the Brontë sisters, which are set in such cold and dreary and wet places. In the trailer for 2011’s Jane Eyre, you’ll notice Mia Wasikowska on her quest for freedom and self-determination. (There, sheep stand for all of the metaphors above as well as a symbol of civilization and stability in a world of Hobbesian cruelty.)And if you go all the way back to the 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier? They’re riding on horseback past a big flock of sheep in the midst of their tempestuous passion. The imagery is maybe a little different here. Catherine and Heathcliff are wolves! They’re dangerous! They’ll tear the sheep around them apart.But this brings us all the way around to a point at the end of this blog post. So far, Warner Bros. has released two trailers for Emerald Fennell’s smoldering and sensual adaptation of Wuthering Heights with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi (a guy, we have already established, who is familiar with sheep-related drama). Neither trailer includes any sheep. There’s Heathcliff, shirtless in a barn, lifting hay that might eventually be fed to sheep. And Heathcliff looking out over the moors, where he should probably be tending to a few sheep. (In case you haven’t read the book, he is made to be a servant on the estate before he goes off and gets mysteriously rich. He should know about sheep.)Emerald Fennell, are you going to deny period-drama fans the pleasure of a few shots of herds of sheep? Is the movie, which includes a soundtrack by Charli XCX, going to be so bah-ratty that it doesn’t give us some livestock? Can you promise that there will be at least one sequence where we see either Robbie, Elordi, or even Hong Chau in frame alongside a sheep and that it will be metaphorically important? I know you’re not someone to turn down an on-the-nose image! Emerald, promise me sheep, and only then will I buy a ticket. (Jackson McHenry)
Wednesday, January 28, 20265:30 PM 10:00 PMDeets: The anticipated premiere of Wuthering Heights is rolling out the red carpet in LA.A bold and original imagining of one of the greatest love stories of all time, Emerald Fennell’s “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, whose forbidden passion for one another turns from romantic to intoxicating in an epic tale of lust, love and madness.Who You May Spot: Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Charlie XCX, and moreHint for the Average Socialite: This event is invite only.
Wuthering Heights will premiere in London on February 5. Like most premieres in the capital, the movie’s stars are expected to walk the carpet from around 5.45pm. [...]Wuthering Heights will have its London premiere in the heart of the capital’s cinema district, Leicester Square at the spot’s Odeon Luxe. [...]The film’s stars including Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as well as Alison Oliver, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell, Charlotte Mellington are just some of the stars expected to walk the red carpet.Director Emerald Fennell and pop icon Charli XCX who has worked on the film’s soundtrack is also set to attend. (Amber Peake)
Following Emerald's last sizzling film Saltburn, fans of the writer and director are awaiting a steamy take on Wuthering Heights, with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi leading the cast as star-crossed lovers Catherine and Heathcliff in the movie.Alison shared insight into her role as Isabella Linton in the film, adding: 'She's a very repressed character who is desperate for love.'Emerald's interpretation of Isabella's story is the reverse of Cathy's; there's an uncorseting of her. Like she becomes undone. There's something so powerful about being underestimated.'Alison added that she learned she'd got the role after Emerald sent her a text message, after she previously worked with The Crown star on Saltburn.'She said, if you want Isabella, she's yours,' the star revealed.In the wake of speculation that this version of Wuthering Heights will be racier than others, Alison said it will reflect Emerald's experience of reading the gothic book.She revealed: 'It's how Emerald [Fennell] experienced the book when she read it as a teenager. So it's not what's on the page, and I don't think that's what it's trying to be.'You'll never be bored by an Emerald Fennell film. I think it will make noise, but you never know how things are going to be taken. I've learned that it's not really my business to worry about that.' (Laura Fox)
Following this thinking, there obviously are other books that kind of fall into similar narration/plot styles like Northanger Abbey and Jane Eyre (cause Jane Eyre is just a Northanger Abbey 2.0). (The Austen Shelf)
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CICO BooksISBN: 978-1800655751January 2026Step into the atmospheric worlds of the Brontë sisters’ novels with these INSPIRATIONAL and EMPOWERING quotations.From Emily’s Wuthering Heights to Charlotte’s The Professor and Jane Eyre and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, here you’ll find the most iconic lines from all of their much-loved works.Thanks to their power and originality, the Brontës’ novels and poetry hold enduring appeal and provide endless inspiration, even 200 years after the sisters were born.Covering themes including independence, resilience and gender roles, here you’ll find empowering quotes from these pioneering sisters who rebelled against the limitations of their time.Relive the emotional power and passion of their novels through lines on romantic love, and discover haunting quotations on the supernatural and the beauty of nature.Designed with stunning typography and illustrations, this beautiful book is perfect for keeping to hand, whether you want to find guidance, solace or use the quotes as a stepping-off point for exploring more of the Brontës’ works.
In a recent cast interview with Fandango, the Barbie actor opened up about what it was like to work alongside Elordi. “I'm so codependent with people I work with, and I love everyone so much, and I'm always that person who's so devastated when a job's over and I never want it to end,” she said. “I think I developed that quite quickly with Jacob, too.”Robbie then recalled the Saltburn actor’s behavior on set, noting how he was always around whether he needed to be or not.“I don't know if Emerald told you to do this or you did this,” she told Elordi while referencing the film’s director, Emerald Fennell. “But I remember the first couple days on set, he would just be always in the vicinity where I was, but like in a corner, watching Cathy.”“I didn't tell him to do that,” Fennell chimed in. “I actually had to ask him to leave.”The Suicide Squad actor continued, explaining that she had gotten so used to Elordi being around, she began to look for him and was “unnerved” when she discovered he was not watching her.“I felt quite lost, like a kid without their blanket or something,” she added.Elordi agreed that he felt the same way about his co-star, calling it a “mutual obsession.”“If you have the opportunity to share a film set with Margot Robbie, you're going to make sure you're within 5 to 10 meters at all times, watching how she drinks tea, how she eats her food ... She's just like an elite actor,” he said. (Brittany Miller)
Three tracks from Charli XCX have been released so far in anticipation of her upcoming album Wuthering Heights. This piece will focus on Wall of Sound, her latest release. Taken together, the three tracks feel like a kind of loading screen for the album. The first two tracks, House featuring John Cale and Wall of Sound, have a distinctly cinematic quality, as if they exist mainly to build atmosphere and tension. That said, they still sound great. Chains of Love feels like the most fully realized song of the three.As a die-hard Charli fan, these tracks give me no clear sense of where the album is headed. Wall of Sound in particular feels more epic and cinematic than anything I have heard from her before. The track unfolds like one long breakdown, stretching and hovering rather than resolving. Somehow, Charli has already sold me on the album before it is even out. Maybe she is a master at this, or maybe I am just easily persuaded.With Brat being such a massive success, it is hard to predict where Charli will go next. She may have been working on something entirely different alongside Brat, or perhaps its overwhelming popularity pushed her instincts in a new direction. Brat was undeniably influential. Like ripples spreading across water after an impact, its sound quickly echoed outward, with other artists drawing directly from Charli’s ideas. Watching this happen in real time has been fascinating. I have rarely seen other major artists so openly mirror one person’s work. I will not name names, but the point stands. It only underscores how influential Charli really is.In the end, Wall of Sound tells me almost nothing concrete about Wuthering Heights. It is soft, swaying, and leaves the album feeling wide open with possibility. In the next few weeks, Wuthering Heights will be released, and we will finally get some answers. (Peter Källman)
Want to see it first, before the masses? We’re giving away two tickets to the exclusive, highly anticipated red carpet Irish premiere in Dublin on Tuesday, February 10. With a special post-screening after party, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the upcoming Valentine’s Day weekend.
Sister Charlotte is only the second most noteworthy Charlotte linked to the house — and by coincidence, she was born in the same year that her more illustrious namesake visited Norton Conyers. Charlotte Brontë came to the house in 1839, and was — according to her friend Ellen Nussey — much impressed by the house in general, and in particular a dark tale that was part of the Graham family history.'Like any good novelist, Brontë used her impressions of several houses to build up a picture of Thornfield, Mr Rochester's country seat in Jane Eyre,' Gervase Jackson-Stops wrote in Country Life in 1986, shortly after Sir James took over the the stewardship of the house. 'Yet Norton Conyers, which she visited in the summer of 1839, as governess to the then-tenants' grandchildren, contributed one of the most important ingredients in the book — the Graham family legend of a madwoman confined in the attics.'The woman in question was referred to as 'Mad Mary', as Lady Graham herself explained in a 2003 article in Country Life. 'Who she was, whether servant or family, is not known,' Lady Graham wrote. 'Perhaps she was a servant who had children by "master" and who suffered from epilepsy or post-natal depression rather than madness.'Although Brontë's connection to Norton Conyers was well known for many years, confirmation of the existence of the attic didn't come until part of the long refurbishment work undertaken by Sir James and Lady Graham removed some panelling to reveal a previously hidden staircase. Sir James — whose family have owned the house since the mid 17th century — asked for a hollow-sounding panel to be investigated, and his hunch proved correct: stairs up from the 'Peacock Room' to an attic room were uncovered.There seems little doubt then Brontë based her timeless tale in large part on Norton Conyers. ‘We believe that the house inspired Thornfield Hall and the mad Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre,’ observes Lady Graham. (John Goodall)
Edited by Pascale DenanceL'HarmattanISBN: 9782336479477January 2026Emily Dickinson et Charlotte Perkins Gilman écrivaient dans un contexte difficile. Bien des obstacles auxquels ces autrices étaient confrontées apparaissent en mise en abyme dans leurs textes. Sans cesse présentifiés par nos lectures successives, ces derniers annoncent un futur qu'ils contribuent à créer : filtre précurseur des textes théoriques et de la réalité à venir, ils transcendent toute appréhension figée de l'être et du temps.
Figures archétypales de rebelle dans trois romans du XIXe siècle : Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre et MiddlemarchComme beaucoup de romans majeurs du XIXe siècle, Pride and Prejudice de Jane Austen, Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë et Middlemarch de George Eliot privilégient l’exploration d’une conscience de femme et l’expression d’une protestation politique et sociale en posant un regard sur le monde d’un point de vue différent. La lecture proposée ici se fait à partir de l’étude de la réécriture de trois figures archétypales de rebelle : Lilith, Antigone et la femme de Barbe Bleue. Ces archétypes fournissent des modèles identitaires à des formes différentes d’engagement politique : la révolte radicale et sans concession, la fuite, et enfin une lutte pragmatique contre l’injustice. On peut mettre au jour la présence d’une combinatoire de ces divers paramètres dans chacun des trois romans considérés et montrer ainsi la force, mais aussi les limites de ces archétypes en tant que modèles identitaires.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëJane Eyre is one of my favorite novels; it is a beautiful, complex story with innumerable plot twists and layers of meaning. The novel is written from the perspective of the titular character, a lonely, reserved orphan girl, who desperately longs to find a family and a sense of identity. This novel is another 10/10 for me; I highly recommend it. Read my article on Jane Eyre to find out more about the novel. (Katherine Stevenson)
Thu 22 Jan, 2:30pmBrontë Event Space at the Old School RoomJoin us at the Brontë Parsonage Museum for a screening of Hollywood’s 1943 Jane Eyre. Starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine, it’s classic Hollywood: dark and moody, despite the entirely Hollywood-shot locations! Whilst not entirely faithful to the novel, it’s difficult not to be captivated by the performances and to enjoy the gothic romance elements. It’s a must-watch for fans of classic Hollywood!Refreshments will be provided.
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