Paul Willocx, a member of the Brussels Brontë Group and graduate in Arabic and Islamic studies, took us on a very interesting literary journey, from Persia and Iran to the libraries and theatres of 19th-century Europe. His talk on Saturday, Feb. 7, focused on the influence of Middle Eastern writings on Western literature, including of course the Brontës.
Travellers preparing to board the Eurostar to Brussels at St Pancras in London can buy Helen MacEwan’s book The Brontës in Brussels at Hatchards bookshop in the station.
It’s said that ‘writing-by-committee’ isn’t usually a good idea, but the main item of entertainment at the Brussels Brontë Group’s 2025 Christmas lunch demonstrated gloriously that a brilliant team can write a brilliant sketch!
Rob McRae from Leeds recounts his journey in the footsteps of Charlotte and Emily Brontë from Yorkshire to Brussels (aka Villette) -- starting at The North Midland Railway Station in Leeds and ending at the Cathedral of St. Gudule in the Belgian capital.
When novelist Rowan Coleman talked to the Brussels Brontë Group earlier this month about her Brontë detective novels, I became intrigued by another book that she mentioned in her presentation – her 2019 novel The Girl at the Window.
Rowan brought up this particular novel as it is set in Ponden Hall, a centuries-old manor house on the Yorkshire moors near Haworth with a Brontë connection.
