Inspired by a 'botched hanging in Ulster'

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the designation of Bradford as the first UNESCO City of Film and according to Keighley News,

Last year, 35 movie and TV productions came to the Bradford district – and that figure is expected to rise in 2019. [...]
The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Dalton Mills, the Brontë Parsonage at Haworth and historic East Riddlesden Hall are among locations used regularly. (Alistair Shand)

The Mancunion features the art of Maya Sharp:

Maya Sharp is a second year student at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her photographic work finds inspiration in a range of literature based disciplines, and brings to life female poetry and religious historical figures through the modern photographic lens.
Emily Brontë, a significant and prevalent figure in classical literature, has certainly been at the crux of inspiration in two of Sharp’s pieces. ‘The Night is Darkening Round Me’ is an example of how Sharp channels her interest in poetic literature to create a series of images which express themes and moments from Brontë’s poem ‘Spellbound’.
The images captured are light and ambiguous, to such an extent I’d argue some look as though they have been painted. The contrast of the eerie dark night with the piercing whiteness of the moon illuminates the shadow of the clouds to create a feel of acrylic paint strokes. Through a blend of slow shutter speed and some texture from photoshop, the images curated are truthful to the camera and the vast character of the Yorkshire Moors.
The inspiration of Emily Brontë in Sharp’s work derives from a nostalgic relationship that both Sharp and Brontë share. The moors that feature in the novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ is an area close to Sharp’s home where frequent trips were made as a child. While there is a depth of interest in expressing the hypnotic powers of the Yorkshire moors at night, a sense of spirituality is heightened in arguably one of the most haunted places in the Northern Hemisphere. (Saoirse Akhtar Farren)

News Letter points to a real-life story as an influence for Wuthering Heights.

John [McNaghten] was born in Benvarden, Co Antrim, the son of a prosperous landowning family, in 1722, a year after Maggie cheated the hangman. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin but rapidly found the delights of the Irish capital away from the university more to his taste. He became a famous character in Ascendancy Dublin, which at that time vied with Bath in England as the centre of sophistication. He inherited a fortune but Dublin’s gaming tables got the money, plus the dowry from his first wife, who died in childbirth. Penniless, he was welcomed into the house of the prosperous Andrew Knox, of Londonderry, where he wooed his patron’s wealthy heiress-daughter Mary Anne and she allegedly agreed to marry him. But her father disapproved and was taking her to Dublin, away from her suitor when McNaghten ambushed their coach, intending to abduct her and marry her. There was a scuffle and Mary Anne threw herself in front of her father as McNaghten’s pistol went off. She was mortally wounded. Brought to trial, McNaghten was sentenced to hang. Overcome with grief, McNaghten threw himself off the gallows with the rope around his neck. But the rope broke and the sympathetic crowd urged him to escape. But McNaghten climbed back on the gallows saying: “No one will ever speak of me as a half-hanged man.” And this time the rope held. The great irony, of course, is that to this day the dashing John – Romeo or rogue? – is remembered as Half-Hanged McNaghten. And now to the Emily Brontë connection. Her father, Patrick Brunty (the name change came later) was a teacher and clergyman in south Co Down in the quarter-century after John McNaghten was hanged and it’s likely Patrick knew the story well. Colin Peck, whose family owns the Knox house near Londonderry, says Emily Bronte could have heard the story from her father and used part of it in Wuthering Heights. Just as Heathcliffe was brought into the Earnshaw house in Emily Brontë’s tale, McNaghten “was brought into the (Knox) family,” said Mr Peck. In the book, Kathy leaves Heathcliffe and he seeks vengeance. Mr Peck sees a parallel with McNaghten wreaking “havoc and revenge” on the Knoxes when Mary Anne was taken away. Said Mr Peck: “It would be strange if he (Patrick Brunty) didn’t tell (his daughters) about this story.” Wuthering Heights has been called “perhaps the most powerful and intensely original novel in the English language” and it maybe came about because of a botched hanging in Ulster!

Daily Mail reviews BBC1's Countryfile Winter Diaries:

One bizarre item asked whether it was more fun to motor round Cornwall in a campervan, or to take a Land Rover across the moors in Brontë country. All this makes odd viewing in the slot usually reserved for cheapskate telly filler about loft conversions and will-writing services. (Christopher Stevens)

The Daily Eastern News offers advice on how to 'read multiple books at once and keep up'.

I’ll give you the lowdown if you’re still confused by this. (This one’s for you, dad.) While I leave Jane Eyre after she’s unknowingly met Mr. Rochester, I pick off where I left off with the prostitutes in Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker. When they hit the streets to do their thang, I can switch to another short story in a collection I was reading for my fiction class. Once that concludes, I can pick up with eerie Devon and the Belstars in You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott. And then I read one hundred pages about binge-drinking in Smashed by Koren Zailckas. Circle back to Jane Eyre. Repeat.
It’s not quite as satisfying as reading a whole book in one go—like how I wish I could binge watch the rest of Downton Abbey or Russian Doll, but that would be irresponsible of me. (Megan Keane)

Vanguard (Nigeria) comments on the novel An Abundance of Scorpions by Hadiza Isma El-Rufai.

The novel tells the story of a young lady, Tambaya, who suffered the tragedy of losing her husband, Yakubu, and her only daughter, Fatima, in a motor accident. What followed were the tribulations of the widow to rebuild her life in the face of mounting difficulties. She became a widow without any support and had to move to Accra in Ghana to live with Aminu, her brother. Much as she had looked forward to starting afresh in Ghana, she couldn’t secure a job. To worsen matters she had difficulties living with her brother’s wife, who made it clear she didn’t want to share the house with her. She moved back to Nigeria to work in an Abuja orphanage where she was involved in more adventures before finally finding her niche. It is an interesting novel written in the traditions of the Brontë Sisters whose books, readers will recall, depicted social conditions in England of the early 19th Century. Hadiza is obviously enamoured to the more famous sister of the three, Charlotte (1816-55) who wrote Jane Eyre. I observe that in her own novel Hadiza had also the courage to take on the issue of women inheritance under Islamic Law, though she skilfully skirts around it probably to avoid offence. (Gambo Dori)

Okay Africa interviews writer Oyinkan Braithwaite.

What are some of the books that have inspired your novel and which authors do you enjoy personally? My favorite book is Jane Eyre. I'm a huge fan of Robin Hobb, she writes fantasy. I'm a huge fan of Anne Rice who also writes fantasy. I'm a huge fan of Malorie Blackman. I need to get back into reading her, because I feel like she's not limited by what is, she just does whatever and I like that. I read a lot of crime, but I would probably say my favorite genre is fantasy. (Damola Durosomo)

¡Hola! (Spain) looks at the current trend for Victorian styles in wedding dresses.

 Los volúmenes arquitectónicos juegan un papel esencial en sus primeras propuestas y se alían con detalles de lazos negros, volantes y vestidos de encaje que parecen sacados del imaginario de Emily Brontë. (María Calvo) (Translation)

Brontë Babe Blog features one of Charlotte Brontë's unfinished novels: Willie Ellin.