Sales of Wuthering Heights

Sales of Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte's classic gothic novel set on the Yorkshire moors, have quadrupled over the last year thanks to its appearance in the cult teenage film Twilight.

After 150 years of steady sales, the romance between Heathcliff and Cathy has started flying off the shelves thanks to a generation of teenagers discovering the book through the Twilight saga – a trilogy of books by Stephanie Meyer, which have been turned into hugely popular films, staring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. (...)

And now, thanks to the lead character Bella quoting Wuthering Heights and comparing her love for the vampire Edward with Cathy's passion for Heathcliff, some of the magic is rubbing off on Emily Bronte's great work.

Wuthering Heights, before the first Twilight books came out in 2005 sold 8,551 a year in Britain. However, the publishers Harper Collins reissued Wuthering Heights last year, with a cover inspired by the Twilight artwork and including the tag-line: "Bella and Edward's favourite book".

Following this reissue, sales peaked at 2,634 in one week and totalled 34,023 during the year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which monitors book sales across the industry. This was a fourfold increase and it is now one of the best selling novels at Tesco, as well as more traditional book shops.

Discussion forums on the internet have not welcomed Harper Collins's marketing ploy, with reviewers on Amazon sharing their displeasure. One said: "How disgusting that they'll take a literary classic, and revamp it just so it looks like the "teen sensation" that is Twilight. Drawing this parallel is an absolute atrocity, Emily Bronte would be turning in her grave if she could see this.

However, booksellers said it was wonderful the classic had taken off once again.

Tesco's assistant book buyer Rachel Harcourt said: “It’s fantastic to see teenagers are reading a whole different genre – the classics – as well as fantasy novels because of the popularity of Stephanie Meyer’s books.

"The new sleek black gothic-style covers of Wuthering Heights clearly appeal to lovers of vampire romance stories and are helping them to try out a different read. Anything that encourages teenagers to read good books is welcome as there are so many distractions which prevent today’s youngsters from developing reading as a hobby." (Henry Wallop)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/7570922/Wuthering-Heights-quadruple-double-thanks-to-Twilight-effect.html

Elizabeth Gaskell & Charlotte Brontë

In 1850 when Elizabeth Gaskell was staying in the Lake District, she met ‘a little lady in a black silk gown, whom I could not see at first for the dazzle in the room’. The little lady was Charlotte Brontë, and this meeting began a warm friendship between two contrasting personalities – Charlotte timid and withdrawn, Elizabeth outward-going and gregarious. Charlotte came to stay several times at the Gaskell’s home in busy Plymouth Grove, Elizabeth went to the silent parsonage at Haworth, and they collaborated to ensure that publication of their novels did not clash. When Charlotte died she had become such an important literary figure that the press, then as now, was full of misinformation about her. Her father, Patrick Brontë, asked Elizabeth if she would put the record straight and write his daughter’s biography. The result was the outstanding and controversial Life, which still today is regarded as an important literary biography.

Thornton Hall

An historic manor house in a village with links to the Brontes has gone on the market for more than £1.3 million. Thornton Hall is located next to St James’s Church in Thornton, Bradford, where Patrick Bronte, father of the three literary sisters, was perpetual curate between 1815 and 1820.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne, along with their brother Branwell, were born in the village, before the family moved to the parsonage at Haworth.
Barry Whitaker, who has owned the Grade II-listed property since 1980, said: “The Lord of the Manor would have had access to the church from the grounds and would have known Patrick Bronte.
“There’s a presumption that the young Bronte sisters played in the garden at the manor before the family moved to Haworth.
“There’s also a school of thought that the description of Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre bears architectural resemblance to Thornton Hall.”
Thornton Hall dates back to the 11th century, when the original wooden structure of the property, owned by Gemill of Thornton, was named in the Doomsday Book of 1086.
The property was rebuilt in 1598 and was renovated extensively in the late 19th century, by John Foster, owner Black Dyke Mills in Queensbury.
Mr Whitaker said: “The mills can be seen from the master bedroom of the manor so Mr Foster would have been able to look out and see the smoke from the chimneys and make sure everyone was working hard.
“He would have been taken across the valley by his coachman to the mills. All our children have grown up now and are living in America and France so we are going to downsize and spend time visiting them.
“We are giving someone else the chance to be Lord of the Manor in Thornton.”