The Road to Villette

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. 

Book review: 'The Girl at the Window' by Rowan Coleman

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. 

Book review: “Charlotte Brontë – A Medical Casebook”

Charlotte Brontë – A Medical Casebook by Dr. Michael O’Dowd is an eye-opening book about medical knowledge in the Brontë household with a big focus on the exact cause of Charlotte’s death in 1855. 

Graham Watson and The Invention of Charlotte Brontë

Graham Watson, author of The Invention of Charlotte Brontë, gave an illuminating talk to the Brussels Brontë Group on his investigations into the writing and reception of Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1857 biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë. 

Bella Ellis on her Brontë Mysteries series of novels

Rowan Coleman, the author of over 40 novels, gave the Brussels Brontë Group an engaging talk on Saturday about her quartet of mystery books starring the Brontë siblings as amateur detectives. 

 

These novels, published under the pseudonym Bella Ellis, see the Brontës take on the part of amateur detectives in order to solve crimes. They are set around 1845, which Rowan explained is the year the first “detectors” were created as part of the relatively new Metropolitan Police Force. 

More things Brontë in Ireland!

Since my first visit to Banagher in Ireland in 2013 when I was on the trail of Arthur Bell Nicholls, I have noticed that a real Brontë hype has developed in the Emerald Isle. 

Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth – photo gallery

Here is a selection of photos from the delightful trip to Haworth that members of the Brussels Brontë Group took in June 2025, taking in the Parsonage Museum and the surrounding Brontë Country, including stops at the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton and Roe Head School in Mirfield. 

 

Led by the tireless Helen MacEwan and Joanne Wilcock, the group visited Oakwell Hall in Birstall and Shibden Hall in Halifax, and some members even trekked over the moors to Top Withens. There was also an expedition to Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast, where Anne Brontë is buried.

On a special Brontë mission in Haworth

One member of the Brussels Brontë Group on the trip to Haworth in June was on a mission of her own apart from her desire to see a place she had long wanted to visit. 

Ann Dinsdale and Carmen Albaladejo

My two lovely Brontë weekends

I took part in two Brontë weekends in Haworth in June 2025: one organised by the London Brontë Group and one organised by the Brussels Brontë Group. 

A very special visit to the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton

Brussels Brontë Group member Marina Saegerman has been involved in a fundraising project for the Brontë Birthplace in Thornton in a unique way. In this blog post, Marina tells about her particular experience in this extraordinary endeavour. 

Marina Saegerman and Liliana Pasterska

Haworth trip — the tour organiser’s perspective!

The idea of organising an excursion of Brussels Brontë Group members to Haworth grew out of Joanne Wilcock’s talk to us in October 2024 – "In the Footsteps of the Brontës in the North of England."

Joanne, a tireless Brontë traveller based in Lancashire, often shepherds Brontë fans around the places she knows so well. She and I discussed the possibility of organising a trip together. 

Joanne and Helen in action

Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth (Part Three)

Monday was Anne Brontë day for the Brussels Brontë Group in Yorkshire, with a trip to Scarborough, where the youngest of the literary siblings is buried. 

The excursion included a walk on The Sands, which Anne knew well, lunch in an old funicular and a stop at Anne’s grave. The group was once again in the capable hands of Joanne Wilcock, who was joined at the seaside by Lauren Bruce, head of the Anne Brontë Association.

Brussels Brontë Group members at Anne Brontë's grave

 

Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth (Part Two)

Sunday was the day for the Brussels Brontë Group to visit the Parsonage Museum in Haworth and trek across the moors to Top Withens, which is considered by many to be an inspiration for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights farmhouse. 

 

The moorland walk was led by author and Haworth resident Michael Stewart, whose book Walking the Invisible – Following in the Brontës’ Footsteps is a plunge into the lives and landscapes of the literary sisters. The ramble also took in the Brontë Waterfall, though the dry conditions meant not much water was falling.

Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth (Part One)

Members of the Brussels Brontë Group enjoyed a wonderful trip to Haworth last weekend to visit the Parsonage and the surrounding Brontë Country, including stops at the Brontë Birthplace and Roe Head School. 

 

The excursion, organized by the indomitable Helen MacEwan and Joanne Wilcock, also featured a trek over the moors to Top Withens, as well as visits to Oakwell Hall in Birstall and Shibden Hall in Halifax. Farther afield, there was also an expedition to Scarborough, where Anne Brontë died.  

Tervuren talk on Louise Héger by art historian Eline Sciot

Louise Héger, the daughter of Charlotte Brontë’s influential teacher when she was in Brussels, was the subject of an interesting talk by Belgian art historian Eline Sciot in Tervuren on May 20. 

 

Louise, who Charlotte knew as a toddler when she was in Belgium in 1842-43, went on to become an artist specializing in landscape painting and drawing. 

Charlotte Jones on the Brontës among the Moderns

Dr. Charlotte Jones from the University of Oxford sparked the interest of the Brussels Brontë Group with her talk on May 10 on “The Brontës among the Moderns,” promising to show the influence of the literary sisters on eminent early 20th-century writers. 

 

The topic was rather a new perspective for our group, so the audience was quite curious as to what she would have to say. 

Nick Holland on faith and the Brontë sisters

Time again for another interesting morning of talks organised by the Brussels Brontë Group. The first of these on Saturday May 10 was given by Nick Holland, well known for his books on various members of the Brontë family. 

He is the author of In Search of Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë – A Life in 20 Poems and Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy. He is working on a new book about Charlotte Brontë and her best friend Ellen Nussey. 

BBG member's calligraphy presented to Queen Camilla

In a recent blog post, I recounted my visit (ahead of its official opening) to the Brontë Birthplace, the house in Thornton where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born. 

I mentioned that the souvenirs on sale in the house include a card with a poem by Liliana Pasterska — with the calligraphy and a drawing of the house executed by Brussels Brontë Group member Marina Saegerman.

Opening of Brontë Birthplace in Thornton by Queen Camilla

Retelling the story of the Brontë sisters in Normandy

On a warm evening in early April, over 70 people crowded into the 18th-century court-room of the hôtel de ville, the mairie, of a small village in Haut-Normandie to hear a talk about Les Sœurs Brontë. 

The speaker, Myriam Campinaire, well known to members of the Brussels Brontë Group as its long-standing treasurer and one of its founding members, had been invited by the Friends Association of Lyons la Forêt, which will soon celebrate its centenary.

 

Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group

I was in Haworth over the weekend of 29-30 March, doing a recce for a trip to the Brontë village that I am organising for a small group of Brussels Brontë enthusiasts in June.  

In my travels, I visited the recently opened “Brontë Birthplace” in the village of Thornton. This is the house where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born while Patrick Brontë was curate there, before moving to Haworth. And I'm happy to share a small but special link between the Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group.

Marie Gevers and the Brontës

Author Éléonore Desclée mentioned in her Feb. 15 presentation to the Brussels Brontë Group that one of her assigned books in literature class in high school was a novel by the Belgian author Marie Gevers (1883-1975). 

This writer has a curious Brontë link. 

Éléonore Desclée and her novel 'Charlotte in Love'

Brussels-based author Éléonore Desclée uses Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre as the driving force in her novel Charlotte in Love, which sees two teenage students thrown together for a collaborate project that brings discoveries about the book and themselves. 

Éléonore discussed her novel and how she came to write it in a discussion with the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday, Feb. 15. 

The gothic and supernatural in the Brontë novels

Stavroula Kremmydiotou presented a fascinating talk on the supernatural and gothic elements in the Brontë novels as part of the Brussels Brontë Group’s annual member talks on Saturday, Feb. 15. 

Backed by a visually striking Powerpoint presentation, Stavroula gave a wide-ranging and well-researched exploration of the supernatural in the sisters’ works, tempered by asides about her own journey and perspective as she discovered the Brontës. 

Revamped Hotel Astoria celebrates Brontë connection

Brussels’ link with the Brontës isn’t perhaps acknowledged in the city as much as it could be. There is a planned Brontë Sisters Square in Koekelberg, but the name doesn’t tend to crop up when streets, buildings, etc. are being named. 

 

So what a nice surprise to find that the poshest hotel in town, the recently reopened Grand Hotel Astoria on Rue Royale now rebaptised Corinthia Brussels, has ... a Brontë suite! 

Hotel Cluysenaar, ca. 1840