Wuthering Heights: profound and radical

The Brontës are grander

But not very gay 

(Now, A Little Night Music, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

In The Guardian author Siri Hustvedt writes about the books of her life.

The book I reread

I have read Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights five times now. I read it first at 13 during the same Icelandic summer, and it scared me witless. The older I get, the more profound and radical the book has become. I have come to view it as an insurrectionist text that razes our assumptions about borders between this and that, I and you, life and death and grinds them into dust.

The Augusta Chronicle lists 'the must-reads of 2021' including

‘The Wife Upstairs’ by Rachel Hawkins

What’s it about? A broke young woman named Jane walks dogs in a wealthy Birmingham, Alabama, suburb and sets her sights on Eddie Rochester, a wealthy widower, whose deceased wife used to be a famous lifestyle guru. As Jane gets to know Eddie better, she learns some troubling facts about his wife’s demise. 

Why You Should Read It:  Author Rachel Hawkins takes elements from the classic novels “Jane Eyre” and “Rebecca” and creates a Southern gothic thriller. This debut novel was a #1 LibraryReads book and a favorite of independent bookstores. (Karin Gillespie)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recommends 'Three new mysteries feature ominous secrets and supernatural thrills' and one of them is Amanda Jayatissa’s My Sweet Girl.

The novel opens with Paloma about to lose her temper with a bank teller. She needs money. Her roommate has discovered Paloma’s deepest darkest secret and is blackmailing her. During this opening scence (and throughout the novel), Paloma’s inner voice reminds her to be a “model minority,” to stay in control. In Paloma’s defense, she tries. Sort of.

When Paloma was 12 years old, the super wealthy and super white Evanses adopted Paloma from a Sri Lankan orphanage where Paloma did something terrible. Now her past has caught up with her. She’s seeing Mohini, a Sri Lankan mythical being, and her blackmailing roommate has been murdered.

In the orphanage, Paloma was given a tattered copy of Louisa May Alcott’s "Little Women" for Christmas. Paloma loved "Little Women," but she resonated way more with Heathcliff from Emily Brontë’s "Wuthering Heights." And that disturbing detail, dear reader, hints at everything in Jayatissa’s brilliant twisty debut. (Carole E. Barrowman)

Actualidad Literatura (Spain) interviews writer Carla Montero.

AL: ¿Un escritor de cabecera? Puedes escoger más de uno y de todas las épocas. 

CM: Tengo demasiados autores preferidos, no puedo escoger uno. Jane Austen, las hermanas Brönte [sic], Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie, Hemingway, Scott-Fitzgerald, Ken Follet, Rosamunde Pilcher, Miguel Delibes, Elena Fortún… Buf, es que me dejo tantos… (Mariola Díaz-Cano Arévalo) (Translation)

Both Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey make it onto a list of 'fun novels' (???) to gift 18-30-year-old girls compiled by Cinco Noticias (in Spanish).

33. Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë tal vez no imaginaba que su novela romántica sesgada por la ideología feminista, sería catalogada como una lectura obligatoria para chicas y mujeres jóvenes. Su mensaje trasciende fronteras y épocas. En ella se encierra una poderosa declaración de amor por la libertad y la igualdad entre las personas.

34. Agnes Grey

Para Anne Brontë la materia prima de su esta narración es, en buena parte, su vida misma. En ella relata las aspiraciones de una joven que sueña con ser mayor y tomar el mundo en sus manos ejerciendo el rol de institutriz en la época victoriana. En ella se encuentra el retrato de la dura vida de las catedráticas victorianas. (Translation)

An alert for tomorrow for those near Haworth as seen in The Telegraph and Argus:

November 28 marks Museum Shop Sunday, which will see the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford stocking fun and exciting items that make the perfect gift for loved ones and The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, host a special offer where customers can spend over £20 and receive a 10 per cent discount off future purchases. (Mark Stanford)

The art of Paula Rego, including her Jane Eyre-based works, on FD (Netherlands).