'The museum has been buzzing'

BBC News features the temporary return home of Emily Brontë's portrait.

A rare portrait of the writer Emily Brontë has gone on show in West Yorkshire for the first time in almost 20 years.

The oil painting was created by her brother Branwell and was last displayed at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth in 2008.

It is on loan from the National Portrait Gallery as is part of the museum's Bradford 2025 City of Culture programme.

Experts believe the work was painted in about 1833 and is the only surviving fragment of a lost group portrait that included her siblings Anne, Charlotte and Branwell.

Ann Dinsdale, the museum's principal curator, said there was a lot of "excitement" surrounding the loan of the painting which officially went on public display on Friday.

She said: "The museum has been buzzing. All the staff have been coming in to look at it.

"There's a real feeling of excitement here and I do know that we are going to get a lot of extra visitors who are going to take advantage of this opportunity."

The portrait was discovered at the same time as another sibling group portrait, the Pillar Portrait, which is also in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.

Rebecca Yorke, the museum's director, said: "It's actually quite emotional to think this is where it was painted.

"It was painted by Branwell, Emily's brother, and they both lived here and it's come back home to where it all began.

"I think what's really fascinating is that he didn't actually make himself very successful as a portrait painter.

"But the portrait of Emily Brontë, along with the Pillar Portrait, is one of the most popular in the National Portrait Gallery."

The museum is in the former Brontë family home where the sisters spent most of their lives and wrote their famous novels in the 19th Century.

Visitors can see the portrait until 31 October. (Charles Heslett)

In The Telegraph and Argus Catherine Rayner writes about her latest book, The Brontë Family: Sibling Rivalry and a Burial in Paradise.

This book is a response to many years of study into the lives and works of the Brontë family. It also incorporates studied observations on the psychology of the interactions of children and the relevance of their birth order. By applying many modern and interesting interpretations of sibling behaviour, I have researched the Brontë children with reference to their births and gender and its effect on their development both in childhood and as adults.

I am a life member of the Brontë Society and a former trustee. Having spent 30 years as a nurse and many as a lecturer in Victorian literature, I offer insight into human behaviour and the changes and similarities that occur over time. I have previously written three books on the Brontes' lives, works and environment. This book is different as it examines some of the reasons why the Brontë children, so close in early childhood, became separated and disharmonious in later life.

By examining birth order and the shift that occurred in the Brontë family following the death of the two eldest girls, I have sought to explain how Charlotte’s elevation to the ‘eldest’ child affected all of the children and their carers for the rest of their lives. Once Anne Brontë was designated as the ‘youngest’ child there ensued a permanent separation that alienated Anne and caused her and her works to be viewed as lesser that those of her siblings. I demonstrate how this was fostered and encouraged by all of the family, but especially by Charlotte.

The book does not intend to offer a literary criticism of the Bronte works but to highlight the differences between the children and their response to an upbringing that was marked by tragedy and loss. By an analysis of childhood and sibling rivalry amongst the family, and with reference to modern studies in gender and birth order, I demonstrate how and why the children developed into separate and very different individuals.

There is emphasis on the growing strength of Charlotte as the dominant sibling and discussion of how she was able to influence and manipulate her brother, sisters, aunt and father. The book examines how Anne finally broke away from her family to become a governess and how, for a while, she was no longer under their control. The book records Anne’s last illness and reveals how her fatal trip to Scarborough was manipulated by Charlotte. My research suggests that Anne did not go to the coast to die or request to be buried there; that was a decision taken by Charlotte and possibly contrary to her sister’s wishes.

The book avoids the repeated expressions of Brontë harmony and cohesiveness, expressed by many previous authors, by highlighting and exploring themes of jealousy, dominance and conflict. It explores the importance of gender in Victorian times and the limitations on woman with regard to free will and independence.

A reappraisal and renaissance of Anne Brontë’s work is becoming established in academic and literary circles. I have attempted to explore the myths and misinformation that has been passed down through the years, not least by Charlotte herself. I wish to show how and why Anne was represented as the ‘Cinderella’ sister and why it is essential to acknowledge her genius alongside her siblings.

The book explains that following the deaths of all of her siblings, Charlotte had carte blanche to destroy and alter their works and reputation and that it is Charlotte’s version of their lives that has been accepted, often without question, for many years. This book seeks to explore an alternative understanding of the Brontës based on their natural rivalry and to emphasise conflict and friction between the four siblings that directed and affected their adult lives.

The iPaper asked writer David Nicholls to pick his five favourite love stories, but he begins with a warning:

Compiling this list, I’m struck once again by how few truly great literary love stories there are. Some of those often cited – Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby – seem to be something else entirely and even those that initially seem to fit the bill – Jane Eyre, Tess – are barely ‘romantic’ at all, particularly in their deeply troubling endings. (Anna Bonet)

Belfast Telegraph asks writer Caroline Madden what she's reading.

I must have read Jane Eyre 15 times as a teenager, as I loved Jane’s indomitable spirit. However, my opinion of her love interest Mr Rochester has changed since reading The Wide Sargasso Sea recently, as it casts an entirely different light on his ‘mad’ wife locked in the attic.

Variety reviews the film My Oxford Year.

Anna de la Vega (Sofia Carson) has been fantasizing about attending Oxford University since she was 10 years old, cracking open a dusty old book of poetry for the first time. Even before her face appears on camera and the narration reiterates what’s already been shown, it’s clear that this Type A personality has built her entire world around this milestone adventure (reinforced by meticulously curated context clues, which include dog-eared copies of Austen, Fitzgerald and Brontë’s works, as well as a diploma from Cornell and other framed honors). (Courtney Howard)

BBC CWR has a clip on Stratford's forthcoming Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever.