Sit down and experience no fear

The Telegraph and Argus features In the Footsteps of the Brontës by Ann Dinsdale and Mark Davis.

The Brontë sisters’ lives and works were closely linked to the village and moors where they spent most of their time.
But a new book shows that Haworth was not the only inspiration for the novels that made them famous.
In the Footsteps of the Brontës traces the family’s journeys around the country during the 19th century.
As well as highlighting Haworth, Stanbury and Lothersdale, it features places like York, Scarborough, Wycoller and Todmorden.
The book is a collaboration between Bronté Parsonage Museum collections manager Ann Dinsdale – an experienced writer of books about the Brontës – and social historian and photographer Mark Davies.
Released by Amberley Publishing, the book features 94 pages of photographs and drawings from the times of the Brontës.
Each image is accompanied by a colour photograph of the same location in the present day.
Ann and Mark’s journey begins in Cambridge with the arrival of Patrick Brontë from Ireland, then follows him through his early career, courtship and marriage in places like Shropshire, Dewsbury and Thornton.
Much of the book concentrates on the Brontës’ time in Haworth, including well-known locations like the Brontë waterfalls, Top Withens and the Parsonage.
There are detours to places like Cowan Bridge, Todmorden, Mirfield, Birstwith and Southowram which played parts in the young lives of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, or their brother Branwell.
Ann said: “The photographs in the book provide a fascinating visual record of places that are associated with the Brontës’ lives and works.
“It was established from early on that the houses and settings of all the Brontë novels have real-life counterparts. Charlotte’s letters indicate that she would often take real people and places as a starting point for her fiction.” (David Knights)

The Independent imagines how several fictional characters would have reacted (or actually reacted in the books) on Twitter to the storm reaching Britain today.

@JaneEyre: Loud as the wind blew, near and deep as the thunder crashed, fierce and frequent as the lightning gleamed, I experienced no fear
@EllenDeanofWutheringHts: It was a very dark evening; the clouds appeared inclined to thunder, and I said we had better all sit down 

Luct Foster discusses the concept of the knight in shining armour aka The One in The Times. She has a more down to earth approach:

He makes me laugh, he's kind and generous to my family and friends, he can hold down a job, he doesn't do drugs, cheat, or gamble and every so often he hangs his wet towel up - without me asking. It's not Heathcliff and Cathy. It's not Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre. It's not Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It's not even my mum and dad. But it's solid and it's real. And that's quite enough for me.

Examiner reviews John Boyne's This House is Haunted.

‘This House is Haunted’ by John Boyne is everything a classic ghost story should be. With its Dickensian prose, disappearing servants, crotchety groundskeeper, mysteriously absent owner, precocious children, wary townsfolk, dense fog, and howling wind, it’s like a cross between ‘Rebecca’, ‘Jane Eyre’, and ‘Turn of the Screw’. If there was a checklist of required elements to creating a “classic” ghost story, Boyne would have hit every single one. (Rory O'Connor)

The Bloor West Villager (Canada) tells the story of Colborne Lodge, a local house said to be haunted.

In 1969, a police officer was patrolling High Park when a figure appeared in one of the second-floor bedroom windows of Colborne Lodge, home of John and Jemima Howard, the original owners of Toronto’s famed park.
Entering the house, the officer crept up the stairs and into the room only to find it empty.
“When he came to check it out, there was no one there,” said museum co-ordinator Cheryl Hart.
In the documented case, the officer is said to have seen the ghostly figure of Jemima Howard, who died after a lengthy breast cancer battle in 1877, the first woman in Toronto to be diagnosed with the disease, Hart said.
“The story takes on a Jane Eyre-esque feel because Jemima died in that room,” Hart told The Villager at the lodge on a mid-October morning. “She had a good view of the tomb that John built for the couple.” (Lisa Rainford)

Bustle lists '7 things we want to do with Michael Fassbender'.

1. DISCUSS JANE EYRE IN A ROOM FILLED WITH MANY LEATHER-BOUND BOOKS
I’m sorry, did you think these were all going to be activities for his littler Fassbender? Sure, it’s famous, but we have brains and so does Fassy, which is probably why he made the absolute best Mr. Rochester in the history of Jane Eyre adaptations in 2011’s Jane Eyre.
We could just lounge among books, bathed in the soft glow of candlelight while Fassbender waxes poetic on his irresistible and perplexing character for hours. Yes, please tell me where you found inspiration for the dark pools of mystery that are Rochester’s brow-shrouded eyes. For some people, this is even better than a torrid spell of the horizontal mambo. (Kelsea Stahler)

World News Report has an article on producer Pamela Sherrod.

Sherrod began offering ghostwriting assistance after she wrote The Last Chapter in the Life of Mrs. Sammy Davis, Jr., and has a passion for helping people tell their stories. "You don't have to be a celebrity to have an important message," she says. "You never know who's carrying the next Wuthering Heights in their hearts."

A reader of Madmoizelle (France) selects Jane Eyre as one of her favourite books. Mr Rochester is the subject of The Writers Alley's '9 Qualities of a memorable character'.