Jane Eyre. The Musical in London. More Reviews

We have more reviews of Jane Eyre the Musical in London today. The Arts Desk gives it 4 stars out of 5:

"Iconic" must be the most used and abused word in the reviewer’s lexicon - a single in the Top Ten and a slot down the bill at a wannabee Glastonbury festival is enough to secure that sobriquet these days. But Jane Eyre, the novel and the character, is certainly worthy of the descriptor, a lodestar for teenage girls (and, perhaps more quietly, teenage boys) seeking to find their identity and their space in a confusing and hostile world.

What sets Charlotte Brontë’s work apart from the countless coming-of-age stories that followed in its wake, is its date of publication (1847, earlier than both David Copperfield and Great Expectations) and the deep psychological insight it provides into a girl’s transformation into a woman. Readers had seen some of that with Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and in Jane Austen’s Emma, but they had much more going for them than this impoverished, damaged, plain Jane. But our girl has a resilience and resourcefulness that leaps across time and fortifies the spirit.

That’s the very stuff of musical theatre of course, Jane continually delivering "I Want" songs, so it’s a surprise to learn that this is the first London production of Paul Gordon and John Caird’s show, its roots put down in Bill Clinton’s USA. It then went through various iterations, scaling up for Broadway and down for Cleveland, before fetching up on Southwark Playhouse’s Elephant stage, a house that works perfectly in sustaining its romance and its tension with a reduced cast.

Charlie Burn’s Jane is anything but plain, and Ashley Gilmour (both pictured above) goes full unkempt hair, black eyes and heroically unbuttoned shirt as Rochester, the troubled but sexy Lord of the Manor. That’s all a tad unfortunate coming so soon after Margot and Jacob’s Wuthering Heights (social hierarchy albeit gender reversed), but at least Burn looks within a decade of the right age for the role.

She is very good indeed, and she needs to be because Emily-Rose Samuel is fantastic as the tween Jane being bullied at school, and proves equally impressive doubling as Adèle, the ward for whom Jane is employed as a governess. It’s not often that you see a child-actor deliver both crucial emotional development and later find laugh after laugh in a wholly new role. Emily-Rose is a name to look out for.

Burn and Gilmour also need to be excellent, as the score is somewhat anodyne, lacking a really big 11 o’clock number with most songs sounding like Stephen Sondheim had set them aside for another day.

Now there’s plenty of tunes that might not make Sondheim’s cut but will work perfectly well in a musical and we do feel Ben Kubiak’s unseen seven piece orchestra driving the pace of the narrative, especially in a second half that moves more swiftly than the first. “Painting Her Portrait” is a standout. as Jane sits at her desk to paint herself ugly and Rochester’s intended, Blanche (Eve Shanu-Wilson) pretty. She’d need the skills of Picasso to pull off that trick convincingly, but never mind, she’s really only trying to fool herself to ameliorate her (presumed) inevitable rejection.

The ensemble cast double and triple parts, and sometimes sing as a chorus, articulating Jane’s thoughts as she is pulled this way and that by love, by duty, by her own insecurity. Hannah Lindsey impresses as Rochester’s mad wife, locked away on the upper floor, catching the pathos as well as the madness in a character that takes Miss Havisham up to 11.

The somewhat bare stage, supplemented by a few black and white projections, catches a gothic atmosphere, but our imagination has to do a lot of work on creating the cold rooms, the mysterious staircases and the noises off. So too the fire that is so intrinsic to the plot - a red glow and a smoke machine leaves us somewhat shortchanged.

But the heart of the show is the romance between Jane and Rochester and that depends on the burning hot chemistry between the leads. And there is more than enough of that to light up the two hours plus runtime. You’re never in any doubt that they’ll be together, so it’s all very warming watching it happen.

Ultimately, I suspect one’s judgement of the evening will depend on whether one has read the novel and is invested in its iconic status. I confess that I haven’t, but its story is strong (the book so often the weak point of a musical). It took me no time at all to be pulling for Jane and her emotional-intelligence stunted paramour, helped, perhaps, by the absence of any casting gimmicks and the old-school fidelity to the source material.

Treat it as an opera (it’s largely sung through) and grant to it the allowances we do for that oft-overwrought genre and the show works very well indeed, flaws and all. (Gary Naylor)

Also 4 stars from Plays International & Europe:

This musical adaptation of Jane Eyre (music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, book by John Caird) makes its long-awaited British premiere 30 years after it was first staged. Its Broadway production led to five Tony nominations in 2001. Since then it has been revised, with this chamber version now being produced at Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The show adds a spiritual and operatic layer to Charlotte Brontë’s Gothic romance. [...]

Using the cast as narrator/chorus throughout the proceedings adds a warmth that the story may otherwise lack, and the use of the floor space in this venue, with only projections to indicate a change of scene, allows effective blocking and interesting movement from the cast. Choreographer Georgina Lamb, lighting designer James Whiteside, and set/costume designer Morgan Large all add value to the atmosphere.

The story is much stronger in the second half, with Jane’s “Painting Her Portrait” adding drama. As the interval comes at a curious point in the narrative, there is a lot of ground to cover thereafter, including “My Hope of Heaven” (the proposal), what really is on the upper floor (a sweet moment between Jane and the mysterious woman lost in her insanity), and the ending, which “tempers judgement with mercy”.

With direction by Caird and Megan McGinnis, this production opens out the spiritual themes of the story from the start, opening with the mysterious connection between Rochester and Jane, miles apart. Themes of forgiveness, love, and loss thread through from the death of Jane’s parents through to the eventual reconciliation of the two lovers, joined forever by that string from his rib to hers.

Brontë purists will notice a few changes, but they are sympathetic to the original story, while a generous runtime allows scenes often excised in adaptations to be fully explored, such as the fortune-teller. This is not the only musical treatment of Jane Eyre – there have been operas, and even a ballet of the story – but it is perhaps the most sweeping, sentimental, and symbolic. Above the stage, quotations from the novel speak to Jane’s independence, faith, and state of mind, and tree branches suggest the oppressive and mysterious nature of Thornfield.

I might question the pacing of the first half, but the performances are uniformly excellent, especially the lead pair and young Samuel, who has a lot of emotionally charged moments as young Jane. This is a fine adaptation that is well worth your time. (Louise Penn)

3.5 stars out of 5 from a reviewer for The Reviews Hub:

A Victorian-era, feminist, romantic, and gothic musical set in the moors of Yorkshire. How haunting and intriguing! But… can gothic romance and feminism really coexist in that era? And then, how do you sing about it?

Jane Eyre, the musical written by John Caird and Paul Gordon, is based on Charlotte Brontë’s well-known novel, published in 1847. This groundbreaking work, which follows Jane’s life, was at the time one of the first novels to feature a first-person narration, told from a woman’s perspective. In this adaptation, directed by Caird and Megan McGinnis, Jane Eyre’s life story is told with the help of a cast of 12. In it, 10 ensemble members take on various roles throughout the performance to embody over 20 characters, all while sharing the first-person narration and speaking from Jane’s perspective, thus carrying the two leads, Jane (Charlie Burn) and  Mr Rochester (Ashley Gilmour), through their romance.

Act 1 is a fast-paced medley of short ballads, alternating between full choir formation and short solos. This follows Jane from her childhood (with young Jane played by the brilliantly captivating Emily-Rose Samuel) through a whirlwind of events: losing her parents, being mistreated by her aunt, and being forced to attend an impoverished girls’ school. There, she meets Helen (played with beautiful purity by Isabelle Methven), whose untimely death is a harsh lesson, before she takes on her role as governess at Thornfield Hall for a young Adèle (again played with sassy joy by Samuel) and meets her romantic interest Edward Rochester – a strange, brooding and secretive man.

The speed is constant, songs are wordy, and, though the orchestration (Larry Hochman and Brad Haak) is wonderfully nuanced. It leaves little space for spoken text and for full musical numbers, with only Gilmour and Burn’s duet Sirens standing out from the rest.

In contrast, Act 2 changes pace completely, and the audience is regaled with a number of fully developed songs, as well as musical reprises from the first act which give the piece more unity. We finally get a chance to savour Burn’s beautiful voice, notably in Painting her Portrait, and enjoy Gilmour’s comically masterful rendition of Dear Sister. Heartfelt scenes of pain and reconciliation between Jane’s family members and Rochester are poignant, yet the contrast in storytelling is almost a disappointment as we lose the narration so present in Act 1.

The lack of emphasis on this first-person narration, so key to Brontë’s implicit act of feminism,  is unfortunate, and the piece lacks an obvious female voice, making some of the social commentary shallow rather than timeless. This is not helped by the embodiment of the gothic horror through various lacy black costumes, which limit character differentiation, and the use of a background screen, whose images clash with the sombre tone of the piece.

Yet, Jane Eyre remains a beautifully poignant and entertaining story with fitting musicality and a playful gothic sobriety reminiscent of other well-loved musicals. It is enjoyable, though not quite yet on par with the greats. (A. Tran Ngoc)

3 stars out of 5 from West End Best Friend:

The songs consist of soaring ballads with some lovely orchestrations played by the band, led by Ben Kubiak, which conjure images of the rugged landscape of the North Yorkshire Moors that surround Thornfield Hall. Gordon’s lyrics are inspired by the novel’s themes of longing for love and independence, and the presence of the Christian faith and its role in providing moral conundrums for the characters. However, as the show progresses the songs begin to lose their individuality and their lyrics lack anything especially revelatory. There are a few standouts: ‘Sweet Liberty’; Jane’s “I want” song, beautifully sung by Charlie Burn with clear and bright vocals which portray Jane’s hope for something greater, and ‘Brave Enough to Love’; a rousing conclusion to the show. 

The cast is wonderfully led by Charlie Burn and Ashley Gilmour as Jane and Rochester. There are certainly a few chuckles when the pair are described as plain when they could be better compared to a Disney Prince and Princess with intense and emotive vocals to match. Gilmour is a suitably broody and enigmatic Rochester and has great chemistry with Burn’s charismatic portrayal of the feminist literary icon. They are supported by an excellent multi-rolling ensemble, however the casting choice for Bertha is perplexing. The ensemble narrates much of Jane’s story, although we do find it a little odd that they do so in first person. There are brief moments of choreography which could have been utilised further to bring additional drama to the piece but there is no shortage of emotion in the ensemble’s harmonious vocals. 

Jane Eyre is a classic story that has captured generations. Fans of the novel are sure to enjoy this musical production but those looking for a more modern retelling may leave yearning for more. (Sophie Luck)

3 stars from LondonTheatre1:

Jane in adulthood is in the very capable hands of Charlie Burn. She has a very attractive singing voice in the lower part of its register, even if the tone is inclined to spread on higher notes.

Ashley Gilmour has terrific stage presence as Rochester and easily commands the stage; he also looks suitably dashing and is a strong singer, even if he is inclined to sound too American. Burn and Gilmour work seamlessly together and almost make one forget that the dialogue they are given seems nothing like as poetic as Brontë’s original!

The rest of the hard-working ensemble also impresses, especially Claire Greenway as Grace Poole and Jonathan Andrew Hume in the role of Mason, Rochester’s brother-in-law, demonstrating a very pleasing singing voice. Hannah Lindsey is powerful in the role of Bertha, but is given hardly anything to do; for example, we are barely allowed to see her when she sets Rochester’s bed aflame.

There are some strange directorial decisions. For example, although Southwark Elephant has a thrust stage, with the audience on three sides, it seems to have been directed for a proscenium-style auditorium. I was given a seat on one side for Act One but managed to move to one that was forward-facing for the second half and found that I could both see and hear much better! This comment certainly applies to Morgan Large’s set, obviously designed to a limited budget, which does make sense when seen from “straight on” rather than at an angle! It is a shame that grey is the prominent colour as it is inclined to make the whole show quite depressing, especially as nearly everyone wears black!

In addition, Brontë’s novel is set in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Derbyshire Peak District where everyone, rich and poor, would have spoken using regional accents. In the production under review, everyone speaks in what is almost BBC ‘Received Pronunciation’, apart from one or two of the servants occasionally.

Some of the elements of the original plot are changed or glossed over but, on the whole, John Caird has done well to reduce the playing time to two and a quarter hours: it does certainly not overstay its welcome! Paul Gordon’s music is a cross between the style of Les Misérables and Sondheim. Much of it seems very slow and lacking in energy, but the whole ensemble gives it the best possible chance, as does the excellent seven-piece orchestra under Ben Kubiak. It is a shame that none of Gordon’s melodies even begin to stick in the memory. By the way, full marks for a change to the excellent sound design of Andrew Johnson who has ensured that the result of his efforts always sounds natural and never too loud: perfect – many thanks!

Although I am not sure that a musical about Jane Eyre was really needed, and there is already an opera by Michael Berkeley, I am pleased to have encountered this particular production. (John Groves)

2 stars out of 5 from The Guardian, which deems it 'more Disney romance than Victorian gothic'.

Much like Emerald Fennell’s film of Wuthering Heights, this musical version of another Brontë sister’s literary masterpiece is lovely to look at. Designer Morgan Large’s monochrome palette fashions the women in black corseted dresses with attractive ruffles and delicate mesh detailing. Behind them on a screen, a mist appears to roll over sketches of moorland, graves and barren trees. It’s winningly atmospheric. But also like Fennell’s film, there’s too little beneath the frills in an adaptation (music and lyrics by Paul Gordon, book and additional lyrics by John Caird) that struggles to tap into the substance of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel.

Though smart-mouthed and bolshie as a child (played commendably on press night by Emily-Rose Samuel), there’s scant sense of a strong-willed, independent thinker in Charlie Burn’s adult Jane, who under Caird and Megan McGinnis’s direction is as pure and polite as a fairytale princess. Nor is there anything dark or dangerous about Ashley Gilmour’s courteous, too-charming Rochester.

The songs dilute the story’s grit and hardship with syrupy sentiment. The overuse of twinkly wind chimes and pop-style scoop notes become musical tics, shifting the dial closer to Disney romance than Victorian gothic. Early numbers The Governess and Forgiveness are particularly cloying. But the better songs – including Jane’s Sweet Liberty and Rochester’s As Good As You – contain hints of Schönberg and Boublil’s Les Misérables (the original UK production of which Caird co-directed). And if the material itself is broadly one-note, this is still a fine-tuned production that runs like clockwork.

The cast of 11 – about half the size of the musical’s original Broadway run in 2000 – is packed with West End talent for this long-awaited London premiere. It’s just a shame they’re working with such flimsy material. (Holly O'Mahony)

Also 2 stars from Musical Theatre Review:

Yes, yet another adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel. They’re like number 11 buses at the moment.

This musical version is imaginatively staged with an ensemble of nine from which most of the roles emerge. They form some interestingly choreographed group shapes when physical theatre takes over at, for example, the moment when Mr Rochester (Ashley Gilmour – fine tenor voice) falls off his horse.

Charlie Burn is suitably passionate and feistily determined as the adult Jane and it’s a strong idea to have her and her child self sometimes on stage at the same time because it adds a multidimensional nuance to the characterisation. [...]

Otherwise the production founders for the oddest of reasons. It tries to adhere too closely to the novel. A surprising amount of the dialogue is pure Charlotte Brontë. Normally I’d applaud that, but here it feels like a constraint as if John Caird (book, additional lyrics, co-director with Megan McGinnis) can’t quite bring himself to reinvent it. It is, though, a good idea to conflate Mrs Reed’s death scene with Jane’s meeting with St John Rivers. It enables the plot to cut to the chase more seamlessly than usual.

There is a problem too with the ensemble concept. Between them they take so many roles that I suspect if you didn’t know the novel intimately you could easily lose track of who is who and what’s going on – which is not to say that each of them isn’t doing a decently competent job as whichever character they are presenting at any given moment.

Brontë wrote Jane Eyre as a first person narrative and this production attempts to retain that but gets it jarringly wrong.  From time to time the ensemble becomes a quasi Greek chorus voicing Jane’s memories in statements, spoken in turn. It doesn’t work at all if Burn and/or Emily-Rose is on stage and silent. Jane Eyre almost more than any other character in fiction can, and should, speak for herself. If she doesn’t the whole point is lost. (Susan Elkin)

3 stars from The Stage.

La Nueva España (Spain) features the Jornadas del Cómic “Villa de Avilés” and the talk that Brontëana author Paulina Spucches gave there:

La cara europea de las Jornadas del Cómic “Villa de Avilés” la completaron ayer, por un lado, la francoargentina Paulina Spucches y, por otro, el español Rubén Fdez. La primera es la autora de “Bronteäna” y también de “Vivian Maier. En la superficie de un espejo”: por un lado, la historia de la tercera de las Brontë -la primera fue Charlotte, después vino Emily y, al final, llegó Anne- [...]

Spucches, cuando tuvo que explicar por qué eligió a Maier y a la pequeña de las Brontë, responde que Maier “ahora sí que es reconocida”, pero que eso no sucedió siempre. “Ella trabajó, digamos, entre las sombras, sin mostrarlo a nadie”, señaló la francoargentina. Lo de Anne Brontë, lo admitió la creadora, viene de un empeño por promover “una visibilización” de una escritora envuelta en los siglos victorianos. “Vi a Maier en un mundo blanco y negro, Anne Brontë en algo muy victoriano, muy cerrado, con poca emoción, y me gusta la idea de poner movimientos y colores a esas vidas: tener un diálogo a través de la historia con esos personajes y me emociona mucho poder compartirlo con los lectores para quizás despertar un deseo en ellos y ellas de aprender más sobre esas historias”. [...]

Spucches, cuando tuvo que explicar por qué eligió a Maier y a la pequeña de las Brontë, responde que Maier “ahora sí que es reconocida”, pero que eso no sucedió siempre. “Ella trabajó, digamos, entre las sombras, sin mostrarlo a nadie”, señaló la francoargentina. Lo de Anne Brontë, lo admitió la creadora, viene de un empeño por promover “una visibilización” de una escritora envuelta en los siglos victorianos. “Vi a Maier en un mundo blanco y negro, Anne Brontë en algo muy victoriano, muy cerrado, con poca emoción, y me gusta la idea de poner movimientos y colores a esas vidas: tener un diálogo a través de la historia con esos personajes y me emociona mucho poder compartirlo con los lectores para quizás despertar un deseo en ellos y ellas de aprender más sobre esas historias”. (Saúl Fernández) (Translation)

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Mrs. St. John Rivers

The Nerd Daily shares an excerpt from 4 Janes by Marian Yee.

Through time, space, and the transcendence of maternal love, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is reimagined in the parallel lives of one soul searching for meaning, connection, and a place to belong.

Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from 4 Janes by Marian Yee, which releases on June 30th 2026.

Jane Eyre is a missionary’s wife.

A bookseller in Vietnam.

A time traveler.

A hero in a modern gothic tale.

What if Jane’s story didn’t end with her marriage to Edward Rochester? What if she never married him at all?

In one lifetime, Jane travels to India and Burma as Mrs. St. John Rivers. In another, she’s Trang, a young woman selling books in Vietnam, vying for the love of the local priest. Yet another picks up where Brontë left her, now grieving the loss of her child and crossing time and space to find him. And finally, a young Vietnamese-American man searching for himself in Boston, a tutor whose relationship with a veteran feels strangely, achingly familiar…

Each thread tells Jane’s story in sweeping, heartbreaking shades of loss, vulnerability, yearning, and the fierce love of mother and child that withstands time and space. While she may long for something more out of a life she didn’t get to choose, she can still decide what to make of it. (Elise Dumpleton)

Chapter One

Marseilles, France, 1851

Jane Eyre is dead.

The plain gold band on my finger is the sign of her demise.

I am Jane Rivers now. Or, more accurately, Mrs. St. John Rivers.

Mrs. St. John Rivers. I try on the name like a pair of new calfskin gloves. The syllables glide along my tongue smoothly enough once I get over the little bump at the beginning. Then I study the small hands lying calmly in my lap. They are encased in soft, pale-yellow leather, and like my new name, they seem to belong to somebody else.

I have been a missionary’s wife for barely a week.

I wait at one of the fashionable coffeehouses on La Canebière, surrounded by wonders: gilding, mirrors, paintings, tapestries, and a large revolving clock in the center that gives the time on three continents. They bring together the charms of this port city as if in miniature. I look about, my senses heightened: The drink served here is not to my liking, but I savor its rich, smoky aroma.

For these moments at least, I sit alone. St. John is at the purser’s office, seeing to our cabins and passage. We arrived at this bustling French port last night, and were deposited, along with the English mail that had departed on the London train with us, in a damp heap along the quay. This followed a Channel crossing that was in itself a trial. I spent most of that time huffing short, shallow breaths and moaning miserably into my handkerchief while my stomach roiled. St. John held my hand dutifully while I battled nausea, but I could not entirely dismiss a sense that his patience was forced, that he hid his disapprobation at finding me such a poor traveler before we had even ventured beyond Europe.

No matter. Now all is near ready. We have said our goodbyes. I wait with our few belongings, only the baggage we will need on the crossing, hardly enough for a journey of nearly two months. Fortunately, our present needs are few, and the rest of our trunks will be sent along. In our haste to depart we left them to Diana and Mary—his sisters, my cousins—to assemble, to cord, to nail the cards that would direct them to our final destination. They will chase us from port to port until we are reunited—only six weeks from now!—in India. At that point, we will open them with a sense of wonder that such luxuries and extravagances exist; we will puzzle what to do with calfskin gloves and fur muffs in the blazing heat of a sun-drowned continent.

As I wait, I return to the book I laid aside and open it to the point where a folded sheet of paper divides the unread pages from the finished ones. The paper is nothing more, or less, than the very letter that started me off on this journey, having arrived for Mary two months ago from a friend in ⸺shire. As Mary shared its contents with Diana and me, one set of ears heard, with distant concern and casual curiosity, the misfortune of others that did not touch upon itself, while another set heard the end of the world.

It was news of a devastating fire at Thornfield: The entire estate had been burned to the ground, and no one there had survived the destruction. No one. God forgive me, there was only one who mattered in that moment, only one whose death meant my own. I could barely bring myself to whisper his name. Edward. I recall Mary’s voice droning on, then pausing; Diana’s sharp oh dear. Was it for the news or at my fainting dead away? I was told afterward that I had collapsed in a wordless heap.

I have no recollection of those hours, those days (five, they told me) immediately following, when I drifted in a haze of blankness. Feeling fled me; I was disembodied, perceiving only strange scraps. A slight stirring in the current of air let into the sickroom. Fragments of hushed speech floating in and out of range. Gradually, shadowy forms constellated into people coming in and going out, though one body remained the longest, hovering near my orbit like a constant moon. As the boundaries of my vision drew in, the blurred edges slowly sharpened into clear features: twin orbs of blue that floated, then settled upon a finely boned visage.

“Jane.” The eyes probed my face. “You know me.”

“Yes, St. John.”

He heaved a sigh. “You have been gone a long time.”

“I have been right here,” I said, bewildered. “In this bed. I have not moved.” Indeed, I felt stiff all over, for I had been practicing the pose of a corpse.

“Stay,” he gently implored.

“I am right here,” I repeated.

“Nay, you were drifting again, Jane. To that place you have been these past five days, five years, it seemed. Sorrow’s shores. Come back to the living, Jane.”

And then I remembered.

The Chosun Daily recommends Fanny Britt’s 2013 graphic novel Jane, le renard et moi, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault.

As a university literature professor, I often recommend Charlotte Brontë’s *Jane Eyre* to students who find classics daunting. It is relatively accessible among so-called classics and, above all, unexpectedly entertaining. However, Hélène, the protagonist of Fanny Britt’s graphic novel *Jane, the Fox, and Me* (illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, 2013), reads *Jane Eyre* for a different reason.

Bullied at school, Hélène pulls out her book on the bus. *Jane Eyre* is her sole escape. At an age when emotions run raw, the wounds inflicted by classmates are sharp enough to drain the color from a teenager’s world—gray corridors, ashen faces. Arsenault renders Hélène’s world in drab black and white, while the scenes Hélène imagines from *Jane Eyre* bloom in cheerful pastel watercolors. Jane, an orphan, poor, and far from conventionally beautiful, never relinquishes her dignity. But Hélène is not Jane.

The girl confesses to the reader: “I am a sausage. Jane Eyre may be an orphan, ugly, abused, lonely, and abandoned, but she was never a sausage. Never was, never will be—a fat sausage.” The pair of sausages drawn on facing book covers, though initially comical, evoke a grotesque imagery reminiscent of Kafka. This is, of course, a visual metaphor for Hélène’s alienation.

The climax arrives when Hélène, at a nature camp, is approached by a fox. Its gaze is gentle. Untamed yet unafraid to meet her eyes, the beautiful creature seems to sense her loneliness without a word. Though the fox vanishes like a mirage, this brief encounter grants Hélène a crucial realization. As she acts on it, her world finally blossoms like spring flowers—and swiftly fills with vibrant hues. What exactly Hélène realizes is for readers to discover within the pages. (Shin Seung-han)

A contributor to NR Today lists places to visit in literary Britain.

The wild Yorkshire moors of northern England feature prominently in the 19th-century novels “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre,” by Emily and Charlotte Brontë. The sisters spent most of their lives in the village of Haworth, where you can visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which includes their manuscripts and writing desks. To see the landscape that inspired their work, you can take a five-mile roundtrip across Haworth Moor to the Brontë Waterfall. (Jane Green)

The Brontë Sisters UK has a new full-length video on the Brontë diary papers — the scattered journal fragments left by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, covering everyday life at Haworth from the 1830s through the 1840s. 

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Heathcliff Was a Teenage Frankenstein

Both our upcoming Heathcliffs (adult and young): Jacob Elordi and Owen Cooper have won a Critics' Choice Award for their roles in Frankenstein and Adolescence, respectively. Hello! Magazine looks into how they congratulate themselves at the ceremony:

Rising star Owen Cooper and Saltburn's Jacob Elordi were captured congratulating each other for their respective wins on Sunday night. Jacob, who won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Frankenstein, smiled from ear to ear as he reunited with his Wuthering Heights co-star Owen, who picked up the going for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his role in Adolescence.

The two actors are set to share the big screen in February in Emerald Fennell's hotly anticipated adaptation of Emily Brontë's gothic classic Wuthering Heights. Jacob stars as Heathcliff opposite Margot Robbie's Catherine Earnshaw, while Owen portrays a younger version of Heathcliff. 

With an all-star cast, this bold reimagining of the much-loved tale, which is released just in time for Valentine's Day on 13 February, is set to be one of the biggest films of 2026. (Nicky Morris)

The Guardian thinks that this will be Jacob Elordi's year:

Heathcliff

Fresh from his turn as a disconcertingly hunky humanoid in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi will spend 2026 cementing his position as one of Hollywood’s few bona fide gen Z leading men. In the spring, he’ll front Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic thriller The Dog Stars (in cinemas 27 March), but first he reunites with Saltburn writer-director Emerald Fennell for her gleefully irreverent, erotic take on Wuthering Heights (13 February). Starring opposite fellow Aussie Margot Robbie, all eyes will be on Elordi’s Heathcliff, whose transformation from rural waif to gentleman brute will be soundtracked by Charli xcx and bestowed upon the world just in time for Valentine’s Day. (Rachel Aoresti)

The Brussels Times lists literature inspired by Brussels. Villette is mentioned:

Although not explicitly named, Brussels was the inspiration for the setting in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette. Brontë’s experience studying and later teaching at a girls' school, Pensionnat Heger in 1842-1843, profoundly shaped the novel, both emotionally and artistically.

The story follows Lucy Snowe, an Englishwoman who moves to a fictional city, Villette. There she teaches at a girls' school while navigating isolation, emotional repression, religious conflict and ambiguous romantic attachments.

BoxOfficepro publishes some projections for the US box office of Wuthering Heights 2026 

Long Range Forecast — February 13, 2026

Wuthering Heights | Warner Bros.

Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $20M – $25M

Director Emerald Fennell follows up on the specialty success of edgy titles Promising Young Woman and Saltburn with an adaptation of Emile Brontë’s celebrated novel, timed to release over Valentine’s Day weekend.

More websites are talking about the film (or the soundtrack). The Hollywood Reporter, The Huffinton Post, The Fashion Journal, Muzikalia, Diario de Colima, Forbes Argentina, inkl, El-Balad, CNews, Moviebreak, Techradar, Daily Maverick, Vogue Australia,...

The New York Times wants you to read the novel before watching the film:

Brontë fans may have been puzzled by the trailer for Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming adaptation of “Wuthering Heights,” which bills the film as “inspired by the greatest love story of all time.” The tragic novel teems with passion, yes, but also with cruelty, obsession, classism and revenge — and of course those mists that roll across the moors, cloaking this Gothic masterpiece in an otherworldly aura. (Jennifer Harlan)

El País (Spain) recommends the Spanish translation of Paulina Spucches' Brontëana:

El próximo febrero llegará a los cines la nueva versión de 'Cumbres borrascosas', inspirada en la novela de Emily Brontë y dirigida por Emerald Fennell y con Margot Robbie y Jacob Elordi como protagonistas. 'Brontëana' (Garbuix Books), de Paulina Spucches, viaja a Yorkshire para hablar de las Brontë, sobre todo de la hermana pequeña, Anne, autora de Agnes Grey y La inquilina de Wildfell Hall. (Ana Fernández Abad) (Translation)

Nerd Daily interviews the writer Sadie Turner:

Elise Dumpleton: Hi, Sadie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

S.T. : Hi! I’m the author of Tidespeaker, a gloomy, gothic YA Fantasy about a girl with the power to command the tides who secures a position serving a noble family on an isolated tidal island, only to learn that her best friend drowned there and her new employers are hiding dark secrets. My writing draws on my own experiences as an undiagnosed neurodivergent teen—I eventually got an autism diagnosis in my thirties—as well as various literary inspirations including the works of Jane Austen and the Brontës. When not writing fiction, I write marketing copy, play classic CRPGs, and wrestle with my out-of-control to-read pile! I live in the UK with my family.

On Radio France's Le Regard Culturel, they have re-read Wuthering Heights:

Pendant mes vacances, j’ai relu – ou peut-être lu car je n’en avais pas grand souvenir – Hurlevent, l’unique roman de l’écrivaine anglaise Emily Brontë, publié sous pseudonyme masculin en 1847 sous le titre original Wuthering Heights. Un livre absolument incroyable quand on songe au contexte dans lequel il a été pensé et écrit, un livre hanté, effroyable, d’une noirceur et d’une étrangeté exceptionnelles. (Lucile Commeaux) (Translation)

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Victorian Era: Literary traces and developments

This collection of essays emerged from the collaborative efforts of three Brazilian research networks studying English-language literature, culminating in the symposium "O Período Vitoriano: rastros literários" held at the I CIELLE (International Congress of Foreign Language and Literature Studies) in 2019 at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande. 

O Período Vitoriano:
Rastros literários e desdobramentos

Edited by Sandra Sirangelo Maggio and Valter Henrique de Castro Fritsch

Editora ZOUK

ISBN: 978-65-5778-130-2

2024

A obra O Período Vitoriano: rastros literários e desdobramentos, organizada pelos pesquisadores Sandra Sirangelo Maggio e Valter Henrique Fritsch, mergulha profundamente na intrincada teia da literatura vitoriana, revelando suas nuances e complexidades em meio ao contexto social, político e cultural do século XIX britânico.

Essa coletânea oferece uma abordagem meticulosa das obras e temas que caracterizaram a literatura da época, apresentando renomados autores como Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë e Mary Shelley. Com vinte e quatro capítulos elaborados com rigor acadêmico por pesquisadores de destaque, a obra ressalta o papel da literatura como um espelho fiel das tensões e contradições da sociedade vitoriana.

Cada capítulo constitui uma janela para um aspecto distinto da literatura vitoriana, investigando desde as questões filosóficas e morais até as nuances do romance e do gótico. Os autores exploram adaptações, ficção derivativa e temas que ressoam na literatura contemporânea, cinema e outras formas de expressão artística.

Fruto de uma colaboração entre o Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da UFRGS e a Editora Zouk, este trabalho transcende o escopo meramente acadêmico, constituindo-se como um convite à reflexão intelectual pelos corredores da literatura vitoriana, onde o passado dialoga de forma cativante e elucidativa com o presente.

This is the list of the Brontë-related essays in the collection:

A reinvenção de Jane Eyre no graphic novel Jane, de Aline Brosh McKenna by Débora Almeida de Oliveira

Marionette: o entrelugar da mulher crioula em Wide Sargasso Sea by Deborah Mondadori Simionato and Marcela Zaccaro Chisté.

The influence of water and air in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre by Caroline Moura

A coloniser’s trauma and possible dialogues in Villette by Alan Noronha

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Gothic Revival (2025 edition)

In Common wonders, 'Why are we getting so many film adaptations of the Victorian Gothic?'

Like Dr Frankenstein, directors like Maggie Gyllenhaal, Guillermo del Toro, and Emerald Fennel are sparking new life into the Victorian Gothic… even if they should leave well enough alone.

We are to be blessed (or burdened) with a burst of new releases retelling classics: Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, and The Bride!. [...]

Emerald Fennel has received the worst of the public’s reaction due to readers’ dissatisfaction with the accuracy of her version of Wuthering Heights, partly down to the inaccurate costuming and the sexualised nature of her retelling, but also because of the white-washing of Heathcliff’s ‘dark-skinned’ character (now portrayed by Jacob Elordi). Fennel has unashamedly updated the original text, bringing Charli XCX on board for the soundtrack and casting Barbie’s Margot Robbie as Catherine – a beautiful, talented actress but decidedly ‘un-Victorian’ in her appearance.

Ironically, by making changes which have infuriated audiences, Fennel’s work is more like the original text than expected, both having brought moral outrage from the public upon their release.

After her work on more modern narratives in Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, Fennel broaches new ground by diving deep into the past. An interesting contrast for someone who so clearly concerns herself with topical issues, such as social class and the mistreatment of women in contemporary society.

So, why Wuthering Heights?

Well, the original text does tackle the issue of social class, with it being a key reason for the separation of Heathcliff and Catherine, and that may well appeal to her if we are to consider her work on Saltburn. However, I think there is a whole other angle here which appeals both to Fennel and wider audiences; the destructive and tumultuous romance between the two leads speaks to modern heterosexual dating frustrations.

For men, many are worried post #metoo about being misconstrued as predatory or creepy if approaching a woman for a date. Meanwhile, women are fearful of men’s reactions, concerned that they will become victims of abuse. Just like Catherine, women are perceived as leading men on and, just like Heathcliff, men are seen as aggressive, possessive, and violent. With almost 60% of single Americans not looking for a relationship, many people have decided that romance just isn’t worth the trouble. (Laura McCarthy)

Democrat & Chronicle has an article on 'How illustrated classics shaped generations of readers'.

Not mentioning Classics Illustrated, other readers nominated other books as the best they’ve never read.

Jim Verni has yet to read “Jane Eyre.” He’s not alone. [...]

“’Wuthering Heights,’ by Emily Bronte is my answer, an absolute classic (so I hear),” Maura wrote. (Jim Memmott)

The Yorkshireman recommends 'Unmissable Things To Do In Haworth For A Truly Magical Christmas'.

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'She’s an absolute genius, and I just can’t wait for people to see it'

According to a contributor to Baylor Lariat, 'Hollywood is butchering the classics and calling it ‘art’'. It is of course about Wuthering Heights 2026 and not having seen the actual film yet.

It’s one thing to reinterpret a classic. It’s another to strip it of its moral core, fill it with empty provocation and brand it as “visionary cinema.” What we’re witnessing in today’s adaptations of literary masterpieces isn’t reimagination — it’s exploitation. The latest victim is Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” [...]

Brontë’s singular novel is not, and never was, a love story in the modern, marketable sense. It is a psychological exploration of obsession, revenge and the cruelty that reverberates across generations. Yet the trailer for this adaptation turned a thoughtful and complex storyline into something of a plate of mundanity with a side of artsy. In one sequence, a romantic moment between Cathy and Heathcliff is intercut with an image of a dead fish’s mouth. In another, they stagger through the moors like models in a perfume ad — all intensity, no substance.

The visual choices aren’t merely odd. They’re grotesque, and not in the hauntingly Gothic sense Brontë intended. While one recent article in The Swarthmore Phoenix defends the trailer’s “horrifically gothic” approach, what’s missing is any meaningful engagement with the text’s actual spirit. This isn’t depth. It’s a distortion.

This seems to be a growing trend, particularly from certain directors who mistake depravity for depth. The filmmaker in question, Emerald Fennell, previously known for “Saltburn,” specializes in shock value. His content is so nakedly debased that its setting in a classic, timeless world feels not artistic, but ironic. [...]

Though Brontë did seek to challenge the norms of Victorian fiction, she didn’t write in a protective manner. She wrote with fire, not to glamorize moral ruin, but to portray its cost. The characters’ pain, rage and longing were never glorified. And, no, Catherine and Heathcliff do not engage in physical intimacy in the book. Their relationship is fueled by spiritual obsession, not sensual indulgence. Marriage mattered. Boundaries existed. And Brontë’s work respected them, even as it bent others.

Hollywood’s approach today often takes the opposite path. What’s at stake is more than literary faithfulness. The classics are not sacred because they are old. They are sacred because they still speak. They confront human brokenness, challenge cultural decay and uphold moral inquiry. “A Tale of Two Cities” teaches about sacrifice. “Jane Eyre” wrestles with integrity. Even “Wuthering Heights,” bleak as it is, warns us about what happens when love is twisted into control.

The classics are not sacred because they are old — they are sacred because they still speak and instruct us in the present. When we turn them into a canvas for stylized sin without substance, we don’t “modernize” them; we mock them. And worse, we lose what made them worth remembering in the first place. (O’Connor Daniel)

Most of all, the classics need to be taken down from their glass cases and shown to new readers, whether that is done reverentially or dragging them through the mud is not that relevant to them.

Elle interviews Alison Oliver, who plays Isabella Linton in the film.

Well, I’m glad we’ll be able to see you onscreen again, because Wuthering Heights is coming up in February and the trailer just dropped. What was your experience working on that set? What can you tell us about Emerald Fennell’s vision and her take on this iconic story?

I have no idea what I’m allowed to say. But what I will say is it was such a gift and an honor to work with her again. She’s an absolute genius, and I just can’t wait for people to see it. She’s amazing.

Anything you can reveal about Margot and Jacob?

Just that they’re amazing. Getting to watch them—I mean, they’re both such talented and incredible actors, so I just felt so lucky to be there. (Erica Gonzales)

The New Yorker features the quest to find the world's oldest story.

Spurred by Casaubon’s failed ambition, I set out on my own hunt for patterns after returning from Indonesia. With a colleague, I began building a new database and delved into a century’s worth of comparative analyses. Of the many patterns I found, my favorite was the triumphant orphan, a figure who shows up everywhere: in Eurasian folktales (Cinderella, Snow White), Victorian novels (Pip, Jane Eyre), Disney movies (Simba, Elsa), modern fantasy (Harry Potter, Jon Snow), and in stories from the Igbo of Nigeria to the Karen of Myanmar. (Manvir Singh)

The Chosun Daily discusses how 'Charlotte Brontë's Contrasting Portrayals Highlight Human Complexity'.

Evaluations of Charlotte Brontë, the author of *Jane Eyre*, have always been divided. Some remember her as an independent and resilient woman like the protagonist of *Jane Eyre*, hailing her as a pioneer of feminist literature who wrote the first female coming-of-age novel. Others view her as a cold-hearted figure who envied her siblings’ talents and monopolized fame. In particular, critics have pointed to the similarities between *Agnes Grey*, written by her youngest sister Anne based on her own experiences, and *Jane Eyre*, accusing Charlotte of stealing her sister’s ideas and even blocking the republication of Anne’s posthumous works, labeling her a ruthless sister.

It is fascinating that such contrasting assessments of a single person can coexist. The recent play *Underdog* and the currently running musical *Wasted* both depict these opposing facets of Charlotte. In *Underdog*, Charlotte is portrayed as a character tainted by ambition and jealousy, while in *Wasted*, she appears as someone who empathizes and stands in solidarity with her sisters. The two works contrast like the shadow and light of a single individual. What emerges from this contrast is not “who is right,” but the recognition of how multifaceted a person can be. Indeed, Charlotte was said to be a human being entangled with jealousy, love, pride, and fear.

People often want to define someone in a single sentence. Yet humans cannot be summarized in a single line. Like Charlotte, humans are contradictory beings. Only when we understand this complexity does the real story begin. Therefore, debating which of the two Charlottes is closer to the truth is perhaps meaningless. What matters more is the attitude we take when faced with these conflicting evaluations. Instead of hastily judging someone based on one narrative, pausing to observe them, imagining even their hesitations and fears—that is where understanding begins.

Reflecting on the two stories of Charlotte that coincidentally appeared on stage simultaneously, I realize: I, too, have often judged people hastily, making careless assumptions. To avoid defining someone solely by their visible appearance, one must make the effort to listen to their circumstances and inner selves. Striving to understand Charlotte’s contradictions ultimately became a reflection on my own narrow perspective. (Kim Il-song)

Far Out Magazine has an article on Haworth as 'the cinematic village haunted by the ghost of unbridled creativity'.

There is no better time than the cold chill of October to immerse yourself in one of Yorkshire’s most culturally rich villages: Haworth.

With streets and buildings that are so autumn-coded, Haworth has a slightly haunted fucking quality to it that makes you feel as though you’re separated from the outside world, with only the surrounding windy moors – the very location that inspired Wuthering Heights – for company.

Haworth is best known for being the residence of the Brontë sisters, who lived in the village for most of their rather short lives, writing novels like Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from the parsonage that you can now step inside. When you arrive in Haworth, the presence of these literary sisters immediately becomes apparent (not just because of the plaques that mark the places where they posted their manuscripts or bought their writing supplies – in other words, markers of greatness). With a gorgeous church at the top of a long street studded with independent shops, there’s a distinctively gothic atmosphere that feels inherently cinematic.

Walking through the graveyard and looking out onto the stretches of scenery is impressive enough to experience today, but put yourself in the mindset of Emily Brontë, gathering inspiration for her work, and you suddenly feel a sense of connection to a world we can otherwise only read about. It makes sense, then, that Haworth has become a popular filming location over the years (directors obviously lap that shit up). Steeped in Brontë legacy, you can feel the pangs of intense creative desire and obsession as you wander the narrow cobbled streets and visit the very schoolroom where the sisters taught pupils and Charlotte was even married.

Perhaps it’s the ghosts of the Brontë sisters (and Branwell, of course) which inspire such a vivid sense of creativity when you enter Haworth. It has even attracted huge names like Patti Smith, who performed in the school room as part of her lifelong quest to visit the homes of artists she holds dearest.

The punk poet has long recognised the effect that the village and harsh surroundings of the bleak moors (the ones Kate Bush brings to life in ‘Wuthering Heights’, no less) would have had on the Brontës. Writing for the Independent about the chapbook of poems by 13-year-old Charlotte, which has recently been published, Smith described just how important those wily, windy moors were in shaping the creative mind of the burgeoning young writer.

“Again, I picture her sitting, the parsonage bleak, the night ominous, warmed by her own creative impulse. In the last precious scraps, she returns to the rich tapestry of her boundless imagination. In the centre of December, with frost obscuring the view, and the wild wind causing the heart to tremble, she writes of dead winter mystically transformed. But Charlotte, as if rudely awakened from her own spell, produces her last words in ‘Autumn Song’, stunned by the reality of the harshness of decay, nature’s waning day.”

Of course, various Brontë-related films and television series have chosen Haworth as a filming location, including To Walk Invisible and several Wuthering Heights adaptations, such as the 1920 silent version. Where else would you want to shoot a film so intrinsically fucking linked to Haworth? There’s nothing quite like watching something and knowing that the very location actually inspired the story, allowing a closer understanding of the narrative to emerge. [...]

Haworth is evidently a hub of artistic brilliance, and it bleeds with the hum of creativity, which lingers among every street, where old bookshops and cafés resembling the titles of Brontë books welcome eager readers. There is something about being in a place where the Brontës spent so much time that truly inspires a sense of goddamn awe as you explore the village, which is even greater when the sun starts to set and the expansive moors become even more fucking oppressive. (Aimee Ferrier)

The Nerd Daily recommends 'Five Wuthering Heights-Inspired Novels To Add To Your TBR', The Daily Mississippian includes Wuthering Heights on a 'cozy booklist for this fall' and RTVE (Spain) lists Paulina Spucches's Brontëana as one of several graphic novels about women writers worth reading. The Brussels Brontë Blog features a recent talk by writer Bella Ellis on her Brontë-inspired mysteries.

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October's Ignis Fatuus

The Minnesota Star-Review reviews the novel The Phoebe Variations by Jane Hamilton:

Wisconsin writer Jane Hamilton’s eighth novel – the “A Map of the World” writer’s first since “The Excellent Lombards” in 2016 – is of a familiar type. It’s a summer-that-changed-everything story that focuses on Phoebe, who is 17, very dramatic, obsessed with “Jane Eyre,” frustrated with her mother Greta and eager for her life to begin, particularly if it does not include her do-gooding mom. (Chris Hewitt)

Female First traces a profile of the actress Aimee Lou Wood:

Growing up, the White Lotus star felt a "deep need" to be "normal", but she realised it was OK to be different like the people she admired, including Jane Eyre - the fictional bildungsroman in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Aimee explained: "Growing up, I felt a deep need to be 'normal', but then I realised all my favourite people, all the people I admired, were weird - even my favourite characters, like Jane Eyre.

The podcast The Naked Scientists interviews Richard N. Zare, who is the co-author of a paper that presents a new model for describing the will-o’-the-wisp phenomenon: Xia Y, Meng Y, Shi J, Zare RN (2025) Unveiling ignis fatuus: Microlightning between microbubbles. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 122(41):e2521255122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2521255122

Richard - It's something called Ignis Fatuus, which I guess is Latin for foolish flame. It's a luminous phenomenon witnessed over the centuries by observers around the world. People have attributed all types of things to it, often pretty scary, lost souls, babies that haven't been baptized who have died, all types of folklore. It was reported in the literature by the Chinese long ago. William Shakespeare refers to it, and Henry IV, even Charlotte Bronte has it in Jane Eyre, this Ignis Fatuus, or Will of the Wisp, as it's often called.

The California Aggie recommends Wuthering Heights for this autumn:

An enriching and haunting tale of grief, generational trauma and the weight of the past, Emily Brontë’s stunning novel “Wuthering Heights” is a must-read for lovers of literature. Brontë spins a tale of unresolved agonies that tear their way into the present, as a new tenant finds himself unraveling the tangle of broken relationships that rose and fell between his own house and the estate on the nearby moors. 

A masterwork of the gothic style, a sense of mourning clings to every page of “Wuthering Heights” like creeping fog on the moors. The tempestuous relationship between the headstrong Catherine and the sullen Heathcliff is threatened by external and internal forces alike; what is left unsaid between them echoes outwards and pulls the ones around them into their tragedy. Brontë writes with incredible force, decisively exploring how abuse and grief send ripples of pain into future generations through just a handful of characters. 

Gothic novels are already best suited to being read in the colder, darker months of the year, and “Wuthering Heights” is so exceptional among them that it deserves top priority on your list for this autumn. Thrilling, tragic and ultimately, rather hopeful, “Wuthering Heights” is a stunning work of literature undeniably deserving of the title of “classic.”  (Natalie Salter)

Book Club Chicago celebrates the paperback publication of The Favorites by Layne Fargo. Warning: blunder is coming.

This Rogers Park Author Combined ‘Wuthering Heights’ And Ice Dancing Into A Bestseller. (...)

The names Katarina and Heath may bring to mind another famous fictional romance. Undertones from Charlotte Brontë’s (!!!) gothic classic “Wuthering Heights” are plentiful in “The Favorites,” including a sibling ice-dancing pair that the couple competes against (the Lins, standing in for the Lintons in the book). You can also find some Brontë pseudonyms as character names. (...)

“When I first came up with the idea, I completely doubted it. And even the whole time I was writing it, I was kind of like, ‘I’m really into this, but will anyone else like this? Like ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ice dancers?'” (Gwen Ihnat)

BBC's Book at Bedtime lists several 'second novels'. And yes, technically, Jane Eyre is a second novel... but, well, as The Professor was only published posthumously, it's a bit forced. 

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë (1847)

If “Pride and Prejudice” is the pinnacle of Romantic Comedy, then “Jane Eyre” can certainly be nominated for the coveted title of Greatest Love Story Ever Written. It was actually Charlotte Brontë's second novel, but the first to be published, her earlier effort being “The Professor” which did not appear in print until much later.

One of the most passionate novels of all time, it was regarded as revolutionary on its publication due to its heroine's conscious awakening, her thoughts and feelings becoming the focus of the narrative.

Jane is morally conservative, but the book deals with more radical notions including sexuality, religion and proto-feminism due to the nature of her fierce spiritual outlook, which is consistently at its core, driving the novel's questioning and searching tone.

Finding love and attaining happiness with the Byronic Mr Rochester is the crux of the tale, and there is a fair amount of hand- wringing heartbreak along the way.

AOL discusses the so-called British countryside fall fashion trend: 

Ever since I read Wuthering Heights during my senior year of high school, I’ve had a fascination with the moors. (And, okay, maybe Heathcliff, too.) Is it any wonder, then, that said fascination would translate to the current British countryside style trend sweeping the … well, not the moors, but the fashion world? (Jamie Allison Sanders)

Far Out Magazine discusses the presence of modern music in period dramas:

So, when the latest trailer for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights was released to the soundtrack of Charli XCX, you would think that my natural inclination for era crossing would be satisfied? Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure. 

You see, as much as I enjoyed watching A Knight’s Tale inject a modernised soundtrack into a medieval tale, I can’t say it added much artistic edge. It was simply an easy trope to ignite entertainment and an elementary level of joy. Ultimately, I think there is a similar argument to be made in the case of Fennell’s upcoming project.

She has dialled the sexuality of this Victorian love story up to ten and has enlisted the voice of modern pop culture to do so. While you may say the same can be said for Bridgerton, which regularly used string quartet adaptations of chart hits, I would argue that the project did so to open the doors of accessibility to what has traditionally been a very secular genre. (...)

Wuthering Heights, however, feels more obnoxious in its approach. It’s playing to a gallery of viewers obsessed with highlight reels, soundbites, not songs, and not to thought-out artistic crossovers that they can quickly label “iconic”. I don’t genuinely see what purpose is served to Charli XCX, an artist who has perennially pushed traditions in pursuit of sonic innovation, by juxtaposing her music with a salacious and misrepresented tale of Victorian romance. (Callum MacHattie)

Business Insider lists all possible details you may have missed in 10 Things About You 1999. We knew about the reference when Kat (Julia Stiles) asks for more female writers in her literature class: "What about Sylvia Plath? Or Charlotte Brontë? Or Simone de Beauvoir?”, but we missed this other thing:

In another scene, you can spot Kat reading "The Brontës: Three Great Novels," a compilation of three of the Brontë sisters' most famous works: "Jane Eyre," "Wuthering Heights," and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." (Gabbi Shaw)

And here it is. It's hard to see, but it's the Oxford University Press paperback from 1994.

Men's Journal calls for a new James Bond movie ASAP:

Pierce Brosnan’s Bond still feels like a classy elder statesman of action stories, while Timothy Dalton represented a kind of Byronic take on Bond, the sort of Bond that our moms loved because he felt like a brooding hero out of a Brontë novel. (Dalton’s Heathcliffe in the 1970 Wuthering Heights remains unmatched.) (Ryan Britt)

Emily Lawford in The New Statesman still yearns for Twilight:

A little harsh. Bella’s self-abasing devotion is hardly new. “You can have my soul. I don’t want it without you – it’s yours already,” she tells Edward, like an overwritten Cathy talking to Heathcliff. The titles New Moon and Eclipse describe Bella’s total darkness with Edward gone. It’s not far from Jane Eyre on that monster Rochester: “He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun.” 

La Vanguardia and Visión360 (Spain) celebrates the publication of the Spanish translation of Brontëana by Paulina Spucches.

El cómic está pintado a mano con témpera sobre papel y evoca la época victoriana, pero con colores rojos, malvas y verdes, que son los que dominan en el paisaje que la autora vio en su viaje en solitario al pueblo de Haworth, en el condado de Yorkshire, donde residían las hermanas.

Para dibujar a Anna, Spucches se basó en retratos reales, en concreto uno realizado a mano el 17 de abril de 1833, cuando tenía 13 años.

Con la obra, la ilustradora quiere transmitir al lector su pasión por el mundo de las hermanas Brontë, “poniendo una piedrita y adelantando a la hermana menor” y contando, además, la hermandad entre ellas y su amor al arte, a la naturaleza y a los derechos de la mujer. (Begoña Fernández) (Translation)

Zenda Libros (Spain) interviews the writer Luz Gabás:

¿Qué libro, película, serie, disco y obra de arte salvaría en un diluvio o un incendio?

Cumbres Borrascosas, de Emily Brontë; Ben-Hur, de William Wyler; The Wall, de Pink Floyd; y Saturno devorando a su hijo, de Goya. (Translation)

Télé7 (France) interviews the journalist and literary critic August Trapenard:

Ce soir, l’émission est consacrée à la façon dont les classiques ont influencé les lecteurs et les auteurs. Quel est votre « classique » préféré ?

Les Hauts de Hurlevent, d’Emily Brontë, grand roman du XIXe siècle, à la lisière entre le romantisme et l’ère victorienne. Je l’ai lu une bonne dizaine de fois, car j’en ai fait le sujet de mes études. C’est, pour moi, ce qui se rapproche le plus d’un chef-d’oeuvre, et c’est la plus grande histoire d’amour de tous les temps. (Translation)

More comments about Wuthering Heights 2026: Infobae (Argentina), Bored Panda, Feminegra, Quién (Spain)... The Sunday Dispatch includes a Brontë quote as a 'bumper sticker'. A Wuthering Heights question in today's New York Times Crossword puzzle. The Brontë Sisters UK has published a bonus video on Villette:

Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is often overshadowed by Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but hidden inside its pages is a Victorian secret that shaped women’s lives in ways we rarely hear about.

In this special Victober bonus video, I explore the world behind Villette, uncovering the real social pressures, the so-called ‘surplus women problem’, and the challenges faced by single women in Victorian Britain. From governesses and teachers to women who managed to carve out independent lives, this is the reality Charlotte Brontë was weaving into Lucy Snowe’s story.

So was Villette simply fiction, or was Charlotte drawing from her own life and the world she knew so well? This video peels back the layers to show how deeply personal and socially revealing the novel really is.

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Brontëana in Spanish

Brontéana, the comic book of Paulina Spucches, has been translated into Spanish:

Brontëana

Paulina Spucches

Translated by Carme Roselló

Garbuix Books

ISBN: 978-84-19393-63-0

September 24, 2025

Las hermanas Brontë dejaron su huella en la historia del siglo XIX con sus novelas.

En concreto, Emily y Charlotte Brontë son célebres y mundialmente leídas. La más joven, Anne, es a menudo olvidada, descrita en el mejor de los casos como la más sensible de las tres.

Atrapada en un mundo que siempre esperó de ella que fuera callada y gentil, Anne ignoró sin embargo las advertencias de sus mayores, arriesgándose a escribir y dejando brillar su propia voz…

Brontëana, una biografía de ficción, da protagonismo a la imaginación
de las hermanas, que inventaron mundos paralelos para sí mismas a través del juego de roles de la escritura.

Further information in Es la Hora de las Tortas!!! 

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A Joy to Watch

Daily Express on the Brontë Way:

But there is another famous family of authors that have a trail named after them - the Brontë Sisters.  

The Brontë Way is a 43-mile trail that takes walkers through the heart of Brontë Country, connecting places tied to the lives and works of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.

The journey starts at Oakwell Hall near Bradford, West Yorkshire, and ends at Gawthorpe Hall in Lancashire.

The trail is not only a tribute to the legacy of the Brontës but also passes stunning landscapes that inspired their novels.

Oakwell Hall, which appears as “Fieldhead” in Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley, marks the start of the trail.

From there, the path winds through charming villages, historic sites, and scenic moors. 

Key stops include the Brontë sisters' birthplace in Thornton and Haworth, home to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, where they wrote many of their celebrated works.

The journey also passes landmarks like the Brontë Waterfall and Top Withens, often linked to Wuthering Heights.  (Kris Boratyn) 

Of  course, many websites still announce the Valentine release of Wuthering Heights 2026:  The Pinnacle Gazette, Bangalore Mirror, Times of India, Live India, Hello!, Geo News, The News, Elle, India Today, The Shropshire Star, Newsbytes, Screenrant, Cinema Express, inkl, The Standard ... But arguably the best title around comes from Rayo: "Moor-go Robbie?"

Hindustan Times recommends films for the literature geek:

Wide Sargasso Sea (2006): Based on Jean Rhys's prequel to Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea explores themes of identity, race and colonialism, set in 1940s (sic) Jamaica. (Eshana Saha)

The Austin Chronicle reports the best in Arts in Austin this year:

 2. Austin Shakespeare’s Jane Eyre

The first time I saw work that broke boundaries and theatrical conventions was at London’s National Theatre. I fell in love. Naturally, this production, with Austin Shakespeare’s faithful National Theatre blocking and use of onstage musicians, appealed to me. It’s a viewing experience outside of your typical production expectations, and it was a joy to watch.

Crónica Global explains why R. Sykoriak's Masterpiece Comics was translated into Spanish, but never published:

La cosa consistía (y la idea me pareció brillantísima) en el acercamiento gráfico a algunos clásicos de la literatura a través de una adaptación totalmente chiflada al mundo del cómic.

Por ejemplo: (...) Cumbres borrascosas, de Emily Brontë, con el grafismo de los cómics de terror de EC de los años 50… Y así sucesivamente.

Se corría el riesgo de irritar a los devotos de la literatura y de aburrir al sector más simplón de los aficionados al cómic. Así pues, le quité de encima a Valerie la responsabilidad de hacerle un posible siete a la editorial para la que trabajaba y me llevé el libro a una de tebeos que dirigía un amigo, al que no me costó mucho convencer de que Masterpiece Comics le daría un poco de lustre a su empresa.

Traduje el libro (me lo pasé muy bien), cobré por mi trabajo y… Y luego no pasó nada. La editorial pasaba por una fase de descontrol sobre la que no me voy a extender y resultó que nadie había comprado los derechos de edición a Drawn & Quarterly. (Translation) (Ramón de España)

The Framed enigma on December 14, 2024, was Jane Eyre 2011. Via the Brontë Bell Chapel Facebook Group, a YouTube video of a Thornton visitor.

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She's such a terror

Tatler makes a case for what Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights will look considering how it matches some Saltburn topics (which is a fancy way to see that they speculate just for the hell of it and that way they have a zero-cost article to publish):

In many ways, Wuthering Heights matches Saltburn’s freak. It’s a novel where themes of class antagonism, jealousy, revenge, and infatuations that veer on the macabre, come to the fore. But don’t expect this to be any sort of staid sequel: the book demands discussions on female madness and rage, on unreliable narrators, horror, hysteria, and the supernatural - so ghosts, hallucinations, dreams and visions - feature heavily.

But much like Saltburn, there’s more depraved yearning than actual sex; expect visually dense scenes, laden with symbolism and psychologically charged suspense. This adaptation of Wuthering Heights is likely to push viewers to think about reaching the extremes of the psyche… and what happens when a collection of characters (who, frankly, are all a bit too closely related) fail to restrain their turbulent emotions – and what grave consequences unfold. (...) (Charlotte Rickards)

And the thing goes on mentioning graves, locks of hair, Caspar David Friedrich, and what else.

Samatha Morton, who was Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre 1997, describes her life in music for Uncut:

Cocteau Twins

I got out of London around 2007 or 8. I was trying to create this haven for my new baby, so we moved to this farm in the Peak District. It was a really special time living in this amazing Bronte-esque landscape, quite isolated but feeling really powerful. I’d heard the Cocteau Twins a lot growing up but hadn’t really had their records. So I bought the CD and I totally immersed myself, walking on the moors for hours with my baby, being taken to these other worlds.

Graphic Policy lists their favourite comic B-sides from Phonogram:

“Wuthering Heights”

And Indie Dave gets to experience real life almost immediately in the next B-side, “Wuthering Heights”, a beautiful silent comic that is an homage to the Kate Bush song of the same name. Emma Vieceli handles art duties in a style that’s manga meets fantasy landscapes. Unlike the woman in “She Who Bleeds for Your Entertainment”, the female lead of this comic runs, frolics, and dances providing the magical energy for Indie Dave’s journey of self-discovery in the form of a Kate Bush compilation tape. Instead of being cloistered in his room, Indie Dave sets off for the great outdoors with Bush’s ethereal music in his ears and The Dreaming and The Kick Inside in his bag. Indie, artsy music is still his passion and maybe a security blanket, but at least, he’s touching gorgeous Vieceli-colored greensward. (Logan Dalton)

The Boston Globe interviews the writer Marcela Fuentes:

Amy Sutherland: Do you have favorite malas — bad girls — in fiction?

Marcela Fuentes: I love Catherine from “Wuthering Heights.” Wow, she’s such a terror. Look at Maleficent, we love her even more than Sleeping Beauty. Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” is one. I don’t know if there are any in Jane Austen’s novels because everyone is too uptight but Libby in “Pride and Prejudice” will tell you off. There’s the housekeeper in “Jane Eyre” and the housekeeper in “Rebecca.” Watch out for housekeepers. There are so many amazing, powerful but villainous women in stories. We might not cheer for them but they are sometimes the most compelling characters.

The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever in Ireland in RTÉ. Pinkvilla lists love quotes and one by Emily, you know what goes in.

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A Bewitching Emily

A property for sale in Stanbury features in Daily Express:

Every one of the three cottages has its own terrace, making it the perfect place to take in the beauty and serenity of the Brontë countryside—made famous by the Brontë sisters and Wuthering Heights. (Millie Bull)

Collider has a list of period dramas that 'sweep you off your feet':

Emily by Frances O'Connor

Filled with excitement and inspiration, Emma Mackey-led drama introduces audiences to the life of the iconic English writer Emily Brontë, who died soon, at age 30. The film presents a new vision of the author's life, showcasing the misfit's remarkable journey from being a girl to transforming into a confident woman.

Emily, which serves as a love letter to the late writer, is not a flawless period piece. However, it is assuredly a bewitching one. The amazing acting from Mackey, who delivers a tour de force performance as the lead protagonist, as well as the great costumes, are also big standouts in this Frances O'Connor film. (Daniela Gama)

La Tercera (Chile) also highlights the same film. 

Deseret News has also a list of period romances available on streaming: 

‘Jane Eyre’ (2006)

The 2006 “Jane Eyre” BBC miniseries is likely the most book-accurate adaptation out there. The four-part miniseries, based off of the Charlotte Brontë of novel the same name, follows Jane Eyre, a young girl with a traumatizing past.

After being raised by her cruel aunt and being sent off to a strict boarding school, Jane leaves to work as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets Edward Rochester, the master of the estate and guardian of Adele, Jane’s pupil.

As Jane continues to work at Thornfield Hall, she develops romantic feelings for Mr. Rochester — and eventually discovers that not everything is as it seems. (Natalie Issa)

Times Now News has a list of famous authors who died young including Charlotte Brontë:

Author of 'Jane Eyre', Charlotte Brontë challenged Victorian conventions through her strong, complex female characters. She died at 38, her novels remaining influential explorations of women's social issues. 

Lambda Literary nominates the best LGBTQ graphic novels of the year:

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll (First Second)

A Guest in the House is a haunting horror story that puts a unique spin on Jane Eyre as it follows a young woman named Abby, who’s just married a recently widowed and incredibly kind dentist. He just moved to town with his young daughter, and the memory of his late wife haunts them both. Unfortunately, her memory also begins to haunt Abby as she uncovers a sticky, entangled mystery surrounding the woman’s death. (Samantha Puc)

The best places to visit in Yorkshire according to The Tech Advocate:

 Quaint and charming, Haworth is enveloped in literary history as the home of the Brontë sisters. Ambling through cobbled streets or across windswept moors that inspired classics such as “Wuthering Heights” offers a deeper sense of connection with England’s cultural past—and often provides a mood-enhancing perspective shift. (Matthew Lynch)

The Tab looks for films with Kaya Scodelario:

Wuthering Heights 2011

 Bit of a literary classic. If period dramas are your thing, this moody, misty, depiction of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is the perfect thing for you to watch next. Kaya stars as Catherine – a foundling who falls in love with the tortured Heathcliff and, of course, a massive romantic headache ensues. (Lydia Spencer-Elliott)

Architectural Digest discusses the TV show Palm Royale:

“We almost wanted a Wuthering Heights feel to her house, where it had been this grand estate, but as she’s gone into assisted living, ivy and vines are taking over the house in a very beautiful and romantic way. And it shows the historic history of her presence in Palm Beach,” says [production designer, Jon] Carlos. (Sarah Archer)

Hall of Series (Italy) looks into the books that Penelope Featherington from Bridgerton could be reading:

Cime Tempestose

 Ovviamente Penelope non potrebbe farsi mancare dei grandi classici. Quindi non viene difficile immaginare sul suo comodino anche Cime Tempestose di Emily Brontë. A lungo scambiato come semplice romanzo d’amore, Cime Tempestose è un classico senza tempo sulla solitudine, l’odio e la vendetta. La tossica relazione romantica tra Heathcliff e Catherine fa da collante per questa storia incredibile dal fascino pericoloso. A distanza di anni dalla prima pubblicazione, era il 1847, Cime Tempestose è uno dei romanzi più letti e amati, un classico imperdibile che ha reso eterna la sua autrice. (Diletta Chiarello) (Translation)

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