Review: ‘The Brontës, My Mother and Me’ by Anna M Biley

The title of this book intrigued and fascinated me, having lost my own mum with whom I had a very close bond and still grieving for this great loss. Anna M Biley’s book was described as “a tender story of mother-daughter love and gentle compassion; reaching out to all who have been touched by grief and loss.” 

I decided to buy the book — “The Brontës, My Mother and Me: Forgetful wanderings of love and loss” — and was looking forward to reading it, hoping that it would help me to deal with my loss and grief.

Sara Zadrozny on nature and emotions – some reflections

It was a real delight (as always) to attend the Brussels Brontë Group talks on 12 October. Joanne Wilcock’s presentation on her various trips to Brontë-related sites was thoroughly enjoyable, but I was especially interested in Sara Zadrozny’s fascinating look at landscape, weather and emotions in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 

In the footsteps of the Brontës with Joanne Wilcock

On Saturday 12 October, the Brussels Brontë Group enjoyed a morning’s immersion in Brontë-related places, including some fabulous northern English scenery. The first of the day’s two talks explored landscapes and buildings associated with the Brontës, the other focused on the symbolic significance of some of the landscapes in the sisters’ novels. 

Meeting Irish author Michael O’Dowd

Several years ago, I reviewed Irish author Michael O’Dowd’s book on Charlotte Brontë’s honeymoon in Ireland: Charlotte Brontë – An Irish Odyssey. On our trip to Ireland this summer, we managed to meet Michael and had a fascinating discussion about Charlotte and other Brontë-related topics – despite some unpleasant weather. 

Impromptu Brontë walk with poet Emma Conally-Barklem

I had a very impromptu Brontë walk on Saturday with the poet Emma Conally-Barklem. She had come all the way from Yorkshire to Brussels for the weekend with her partner to see Pink! on her Summer Carnival Tour in the King Baudouin stadium and to walk in the footsteps of Charlotte Brontë. 

In one weekend, she managed to combine “meeting” two of her idols: one a hugely popular singer songwriter, real pop royalty from the U.S.; and the other an equally popular novelist who has been dead for more than 150 years, but whose work has lived on and is loved by many generations of readers. 

'Oblivion: The Lost Diaries of Branwell Brontë'

We were delighted to welcome U.S. professor and novelist Dean de la Motte, who joined us on Saturday 15 June for our annual summer lunch and afterwards gave a talk on his novel Oblivion: The Lost Diaries of Branwell Brontë. The event, arranged to fit in with Dean’s annual summer stay in France, was well-attended and proved to be a very successful addition to the talks originally scheduled for this year. 

Another guided walk led by historian Christophe Loir

Dr Christophe Loir of the ULB’s History, Arts and Archaeology faculty on Sunday 26 May 2024 led a second guided walk devised specially for the Brussels Brontë Group. Dr Loir, an expert on architecture and town planning, devoted his Sunday morning to plunging us into the Brussels of the early 1840s, the Brussels of the Brontës. 

Fourteen of us turned out and we gathered just after a torrential downpour; happily the rain held off almost completely during our two-hour walk. The theme of the walk was ‘Entre les deux gares bruxellois au temps des soeurs Brontë’ — ‘Between the North and South railway stations in the Brontës’ time’ — and Dr Loir highlighted, among other things, changes to the city brought by the arrival of the railway. 

Another step on Brontë Sisters Square in Koekelberg

A further step has just been taken towards seeing the Brontë sisters return to the Brussels municipality of Koekelberg, at least in spirit. A public consultation meeting was held on 16 May to update Koekelberg residents on plans to name a square after the Brontë sisters and to invite their comments.

Octavia Cox on Anne Brontë and sea symbolism

It has been said that what the Yorkshire moors were to Emily Brontë the sea was to her sister Anne – a soul-enlivening physical space and an inspiring imaginative element. Oxford University’s Octavia Cox explained exactly what the sea and the seaside meant to Anne Brontë in an absorbing talk to the Brussels Brontë Group. 

Valerie Sanders on clothes in the Brontë novels

University of Hull's Valerie Sanders used Rachel Ferguson’s 1931 novel The Brontës Went to Woolworths as a jumping-off point for a fascinating look at clothes in Charlotte Brontë’s novels – how they are described and what they signify. 

On a sartorial trip through the juvenilia, the letters and the mature novels, Prof. Sanders showed what clothes and dressing meant for Charlotte, both in real life and in her fiction. 

Member talk: The Brontës and fake news

There have been wild speculations and baseless theories about the Brontë sisters and their novels virtually since the books were first published in 1847. Johan Hellinx gave the Brussels Brontë Group a run-down of all the fake news that has circulated, right up to today. 

In his talk on Saturday, 24 February 2024, Johan’s special fake-news focus was the enduring claims that Branwell Brontë must have been the true author of Wuthering Heights. The first serious biography of Emily didn’t come until 1883, when Mary Robinson published her book, so there was plenty of time and scope for speculations.

Member talk: ‘Wuthering Heights’ and pop culture

Ana Gauthier gave the Brussels Brontë Group a whirlwind tour through the far-reaching influence of Wuthering Heights on the broader culture, showing how Emily Brontë’s novel echoes through our collective consciousness, sometimes in surprising ways. 

In her talk on Saturday 24 February 2024, Ana touched on Kate Bush, Merle Oberon, Celine Dion, Jim Steinman, Giorgio Armani and a host of anonymous social-media users as she demonstrated the widespread echoes of Wuthering Heights that can be found rippling through our culture. 

Enjoying the 'World of the Brontës' in a different way!

I have always enjoyed making jigsaw puzzles, certainly in childhood, but after growing up and having a job and getting married, I just did not have the time to do this anymore. Reading was taking over as a pastime, as this was much easier to do in between study, work or household chores. Puzzling takes space and time. 

During the Covid pandemic, however, as we were all locked up in our homes, I re-discovered this hobby, and to pass the time indoors I started to make the jigsaw puzzles that I found in the cupboards. I really enjoyed this again. A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for a very special jigsaw puzzle – “The World of the Brontës” – and decided to buy it. This was going to be my next puzzle project.

The Brontës come to a grocery store in Merchtem

The Brontës Went to Woolworths, the title of a 1931 novel by the British writer Rachel Ferguson, features in a talk by Valerie Sanders to be given to the Brussels Brontë Group later this year, in which Professor Sanders will talk to us about "clothes and shopping in the Brontë novels." 

 

Here in Belgium this Christmas, the Brontës went not to Woolworths but to a grocery store in Merchtem.