Understanding the Brontës up on the moors

The Telegraph and Argus features the forthcoming book by Michael Stuart, Walking the Invisible: Following in the Brontes’ Footsteps, out on June 24th.

Walking the Invisible, by Michael Stewart, follows the Brontë Stones trail, taking a series of walks through landscapes and buildings familiar to the family and investigating the geographical and social features that shaped their lives and writing. The book also compares the times they lived in with the present.

Michael, who lives in Thornton, where Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Branwell Brontë were born, became captivated by the Brontës after he left school and discovered a copy of Wuthering Heights in a library. “I never encountered the works of the Brontës at school. We were told we weren’t bright enough,” he said. [...]

“Up on the moors, I had a profound understanding of the texts. I started to connect with their writings in a visceral way,” said Michael. “It was like I had discovered another layer, and I sank further in. The words and the moors were one.”

Walking the Invisible - a “literary study of the social and natural history that has inspired writers and walkers, and the writings of a family that have touched readers for generations” - takes in landmarks such as Thornton’s Old Bell Chapel where Patrick Brontë was a curate, the grand residence said to be an inspiration for Mr Rochester’s house in Jane Eyre, backdrops to Branwell’s affair with an older married woman, the brooding moorland where the sisters roamed, and the beautiful stones engraved with words of contemporary female writers - Kate Bush, Jeanette Winterson, Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay - in tribute to the Brontes.

Michael came up with the idea for the four Brontë Stones, installed in 2018 in places where the sisters walked, and he leads guided tours of the trails for visitors from around the world. (Emma Clayton)

Book Riot lists musicals based on books including Paul Gordon and John Caird's Jane Eyre. The Musical.

Jane Eyre

Based on: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

There have been multiple music-based productions about Jane Eyre, the timeless tale of a woman and her weird, wife-napping boyfriend. The 2000 musical ran on Broadway for six months. I doubt its failure was because of the ableism and racism of the second act, but maybe it was one of those signs from God Jane likes to sing about.

Songs to Listen To: They all sound kind of the same? “Perfectly Nice” almost manages to do something. I liked “Secret Soul” and “Sirens,” but maybe that’s just because I like counterpoint. (Eileen Gonzalez)

We don't agree at all and, despite its lack of success, we do like it. As for 'the ableism and racism of the second act', well, that must have come from the book, right?

Vanitatis (Spain) features writer Espido Freire.

Vanguardista, pues, en el mundo de las escritoras influencers y 360, también ha participado como guía exclusiva para grupos reducidos en viajes para conocer mejor a figuras literarias como Jane Austen –de cuya vida y obra es toda una experta–, James Joyce o las hermanas Brontë. (Jorge C. Parcero) (Translation)

More on writer Samantha Ellis from the Brussels Brontë Blog.