Wuthering Christmas

High 50 recommends five books written after their authors were 50 years old, including Wide Sargasso Sea.

Jean Rhys was born in Dominica in 1890, the daughter of a Welsh doctor and a white Creole mother. At the age of 16 she was sent to England to finish her education but left school to become a chorus girl touring the country. She worked as an actress and model and became involved in a series of abusive love affairs but began to write and during the 1920s and 30s produced a number of short stories and novels. She then disappeared into obscurity and was presumed by many to have died until she took the literary world by storm in 1966 with the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea at the age of 76.  The novel recreates the early life of Antoinette Cosway, the first wife of Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre and the original mad woman in the attic. Rhys had begun the book years earlier and drew on her experience of growing up feeling an outsider and a victim to create the character of Antoinette. As she wrote in the novel: ‘There is always another side, always’. (Alison Thomas)

The Nerd Daily recommends books to read during the Christmas holidays:

Two bonus classics: Wuthering Heights and  Little Woman [sic]

If you haven’t read either of these two classic novels, you ought to do so! What better time than Christmas to take the time to read a true classic. The hard and true love between Heathcliff and Catherine, or the relationship between the March sisters, these are books you won’t regret reading! (Johanna H)

Eastern Daily Press reports that local writer Megan Wain-Smith is a Brontëite:

Her favourite stories were Famous Five and Secret Seven by Enid Blyton and as a child she also read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Little Women. (Sophie Wyllie)

Repubblica (Italy) reviews the Italian translation of Brian Dillon's Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives.

Per esempio, in Jane Eyre, il più famoso, l’unica occasione in cui Brontë cita l’ipocondria è quando Mr Rochester allude a una sensazione morbosa di pericolo incombente, la notte prima del matrimonio tra lui e Jane: “Sei sovreccitata o sovraffaticata, questa è ipocondria Jane”, dice notando le guance arrossate e gli occhi che brillano alla luce del fuoco appena attizzato mentre la ragazza racconta di un’orribile apparizione avuta in sogno la notte prima. L’ipocondria ovvio, sostiene lui, l’ha resa “un soggettino apprensivo”. (Ilaria Zaffino) (Translation)

In The Guardian, Laura Barton shares her travelling-related playlist, which includes

Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush

One of the strange things about this year is how little I’ve seen the M4. My summers are usually spent travelling to music festivals, and I’ve missed that frequent journey west to Port Eliot, Glastonbury, End of the Road. For the last few years I’ve also run a stage at Green Man festival in the Brecon Beacons – it’s the stage where all of the talks and literary events take place, but I’ve tried to introduce musical irreverence, too. A couple of years ago, I asked a duo called Pink Suits to perform between speakers, and on the first day they danced to Wuthering Heights. It was one of those moments that reminded me how special our music festivals can be: these places of such unexpected joy and creative collision in the British landscape.