In this issue, we bring you eight reviews, covering conferences, poetry, fiction, film, an academic book and an anthology.
On conferences and film are Rose Gant, a doctoral researcher at University of Suffolk, and reputed Brontë scholar Patsy Stoneman. Ms. Gant offers her enthusiastic take on two conferences last fall: the annual Brontë Conference and the Festival of Women’s Writing. She makes both events come alive. Dr Stoneman contributes a review of Bryan Ferriter’s 2022 Wuthering Heights film in which she uses her expertise as a critic of reinterpretations of Brontë novels to evaluate its success. Completely in her element here, Dr Stoneman gets us thinking about why this film may or may not appeal to viewers.
Dean de la Motte’s fine work of fiction, Oblivion: The Lost Diaries of Branwell Brontë: A Novel in Three Volumes (2022), gets a thoughtful appreciation from stalwart reviewer and former editor Bob Duckett. Dr Duckett also contributes a review of Edward Chitham’s The Novelist of Wildfell Hall: A New Life of Anne Brontë (2022). Dr Duckett considers the value of this new volume given all the recent Anne Brontë scholarship, following Dr Chitham’s original A Life of Anne Brontë, published in 1991.
First-time reviewer in Brontë Studies Tony Williams provides a thought-provoking analysis of poet Antony Rowland’s latest collection, Caldebroc (2023), which includes sequences that dialogue with and showcase Brontë country. Dr Williams guides us on a journey of Caldebroc and its intricacies.
Sarah Powell, a regular reviewer of Brontë-inspired fiction, brings us her take on Canadian author Alan Bradley’s older title, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag (2010). Charmed by Bradley’s effort, Ms Powell walks us through this cosy mystery that invokes the Brontë family.
Finally, Dr Peter Cook, the incoming Reviews Editor of Brontë Studies, provides a detailed critique of Tim Whittome’s self-published Walking with Anne Brontë, Insights and Reflections: An Anthology. Dr Cook carefully considers the writing in the anthology’s seven sections, and particularly the central ‘Academic Insights’ and ‘Personal Reflections’.
This overview brings me to a close—not only to the editorial of this issue’s Reviews Section, but also to my 18 years as Reviews Editor of Brontë Studies. I would like to take a moment to thank a few people before I go—first the Brontë Society for its longstanding support, and the journal’s former editors: Bob Duckett who appointed me in 2006 and who has become a dear friend over many Brontë discussions; and Amber Adams, with whom I carried the journal’s torch for more than a decade, and whose company was a deep pleasure along the way.
And very warm thanks go to both the current editor Dr Claire O’Callaghan and her once co-editor Dr Sarah Fanning, who were not only excellent colleagues and who have taken the journal to new places, but who have also become good friends—and whose knowledge, rigour and camaraderie made my long Brontë journey all the better.
Let me now make my own introduction of Dr Peter Cook, brilliant Brontë and Dickens scholar who will now take the reins and gallop his own path with the Reviews Section. Peter reviewed many titles for me over the years, and I cannot wait to see how he brings new insights and approaches to the journal. My very best wishes to him, to Claire and to the extended Brontë Society team.