The main character is the landscape

 The Gothic Book Club at The Devonsville Press is reading Wuthering Heights:

One week into February’s pick and the general consensus would indicate that no matter how often you read Wuthering Heights, you never read the same book twice.

For some of us following along with the Gothic Book Club, it’s the first time they have experienced it since high school or early adulthood. Many are coming back to it after years, or even decades. Others are picking it up for the first time.

Perhaps some arrived here because they loved Jane Eyre (written by Emily’s sister Charlotte), or felt they wanted to tackle an oft-mentioned classic. Whatever the reason, the only certainty is that this book contains surprises and ever-changing forms.

Age, experience, mood and perspective will inevitably alter your perception of any work of art, but there’s something so indeterminate when it comes to Wuthering Heights. Alliances and preferences shift around the story at breakneck speed, playing upon the complexities of human emotion. Sometimes, when you read an author from this era, you get a sense of character. Charles Dickens, for example, is wonderful at creating strong, memorable characters. In Emily Brontë's work, however, it feels more like we’re getting to know people. (Colin J.McCracken)

The Telegraph & Argus announces the return of the Northern Ballet's production of Jane Eyre to the stages, which will be touring the UK next March.

This spring, Northern Ballet is bringing its critically acclaimed production of Jane Eyre back to the stage, with heart-stirring choreography and live music. Audiences are invited to join the governess on “a journey of resilience, romance and redemption”. (...)

Originally premièred by Northern Ballet in 2016, and nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2017, Jane Eyre is choreographed by internationally acclaimed British dance maker Cathy Marston, whose recent credits include Snowblind for Atlanta Ballet and The Cellist for Ballet Zürich.

The show is set to a score of original compositions and existing work compiled and arranged by composer Philip Feeney. Sets and costumes are designed by Patrick Kinmonth and lighting is designed by Alastair West, whose recent credits include Northern Ballet’s Casanova.

Says Cathy Marston: “The Brontës’ stories are inspiring to translate into dance because of their intense emotional journeys for the protagonists, the backdrop of landscape and elemental forces that seem to amplify these emotions, and in the case of Jane Eyre particularly, the range of wonderful soloist roles that add texture, depth, and warmth to the central narrative.”

Federico Bonelli, Artistic Director at Northern Ballet adds: “What do we all love about Jane Eyre? Her resilience, determination and steadfast knowledge of who she is as she navigates a life filled with turmoil.

“Combined with her love story with Mr Rochester, this story is perfect to be told through ballet, and in our Jane Eyre the dancing, sets, costumes and music fully immerse you in Jane’s life.

“There is so much for any dancer to work with to encapsulate the layered characters and narrative created by Charlotte Brontë and even more for an audience member to enjoy in this beautiful retelling by Cathy Marston.” (Emma Clayton) 

The presentation of the Altuzarra 2025 fall fashion collection came with an unexpected gift, as we read in Fashionista and The Impression:

In what could've been a dark prelude to Valentine's Day, the designer gifted showgoers Emily Brontë's tragically romantic novel "Wuthering Heights."

Fall 2025, revealed Saturday morning in an all-white (even the carpet) room at the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan, is a prime example of this. This season's collection-relevant book, gifted to each guest, was Emily Brontë's tragically romantic novel "Wuthering Heights" — it felt like Altuzarra might be offering a rather dark prelude to Valentine's Day. But there's ultimately something inspiring about the collection and the story — or, more accurately, the woman — behind it.

"This season, the focus shifts from narrative to a singular, compelling character — a woman who wears her history as armor, unafraid to show her scars," Altuzarra wrote in the show notes. "This collection is a map of the woman's loves and losses." She's described as "unapologetic" and "fearless," but still vulnerable, and her (very chic) wardrobe reflects that. (Dhani Mau)

While Altuzarra first built his business on dresses, the post-covid era has seen him do great work to expand the brand into other categories. The cold and desolate beauty of the Yorkshire moors, where Brontë herself lived in relative seclusion and where her novel unfolds, offered a unique space to explore outerwear and knitwear. Coats with dramatically sweeping shawl or cape structures, fair isle knits, and angular fur-lined jackets all seemed perfect for wandering among the heather at dusk, lamenting a lost love. There were other smart nods to the history and geography of Brontë’s world as well, like the lacy cuffs and high collars that updated aristocratic styles or the somber and sober garb the Brontë’s clergyman father would have worn. (Mark Wittmer)

The Sunday Times discusses the recent BBC Radio 4 program How Boarding Schools Shaped Britain:

  Keir Starmer’s cabinet is almost entirely state educated. State sixth forms are sending record numbers to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities. Also, importantly, boarding schools have been getting some of their worst PR since the consumptive death of Helen Burns in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre or the publication of Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby. (Patricia Nicol)

The Guardian publishes an obituary of the teacher and literary biographer Catherine Peters who was

An avid and precocious reader herself, she had read Jane Eyre by the age of eight. (Matthew Barton)

The Sunday Post (Sri Lanka) interviews the author Kate Mosse:

The single author who most touched Kate was Emily Brontë with her bleak and haunting Yorkshire moors in The Wuthering Heights. “The main character was the landscape,” says Kate and that’s how she herself writes –  everything beginning with the place. (Yomal Senerath-Yapa)

Forbes lists the best Celine Dion's songs:

 "It’s All Coming Back to Me Now" (1996)

Celine’s 1996 single “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” has an interesting story behind it. It was written by Jim Steinman, the collaborator behind some of Meatloaf’s biggest hits. In fact, Steinman ended up going to court to prevent Meatloaf from recording it, believing it was better suited for a female. (Meatloaf did end up recording the song a decade later.) Steinman said the song was inspired by Wuthering Heights and his goal was to write the “most passionate, most romantic song he could create.” (Pam Windsor)

Associated Press also interviews Nora Roberts:

 Sophia Rosenbaum: Do you have a favorite book of all time?

S.R.: “To Kill a Mockingbird” is probably the most perfect novel I remember. I love “Catch-22.” And “Jane Eyre.”

ED (Chile) recommends Emily Brontë's poetry as a summer reading:

 Poesía completa, de Emily Brontë

“Emily Brontë no solo fue una gran novelista, sino también una poeta brillante. Su Poesía completa fue editada por Alba Editorial en una hermosa y cuidada edición bilingüe. 

Estos poemas te llevan a un mundo de paisajes salvajes, emociones intensas y reflexiones profundas sobre la vida, la muerte y la naturaleza. Su lenguaje es rico y evocador, en sus versos se siente la misma fuerza indómita que encontramos en Cumbres Borrascosas. Es un libro que conecta con el alma, ideal para quienes buscan palabras que resuenen con lo sublime y lo eterno”. (Valentina De Aguirre) (Translation)

 A Brontë-related question in yesterday's Vox Crossword.