Last year, we began this message with optimism, the first Covid-19 vaccines were being administered, Brexit worst-case scenarios were being avoided, the US was on the verge of passing one of the darkest pages in its history. We end the year with mixed feelings, however. We experienced a year that can only be described with surfing metaphors. We have surfed the waves of the different Covid-19 variants, we even had some months of delusional (almost) normality, we've been to the edge with so many crises it's almost tedious to enumerate: the climate emergency taking the form of extreme weather phenomena (floods, fires, snow, tornadoes...), an attempt of coup d'état at the heart of the USA, the Ever Given ship blocking the Suez canal, supply chain problems, fuel shortages, growing energy prices, a world ever more divided... and omicron and the associated pingdemic as the icing in the cake. But 2021 was also the year in which humans flew a helicopter for the first time on another planet (Ingenuity on Mars), put into space the most ambitious space telescope ever (the JWST), China officially eliminated malaria... and even a 90-year old Captain Kirk touched the sky for the very first time.

So, the funny thing is that we don't feel pessimistic. We want to believe that Omicron is not another variant, but probably the one that will change the Covid-19 into an endemic and seasonal crossover between flu and cold. We'd like to dream that we will be able to travel again without paying ludicrous amounts of pounds for useless tests (the 2-day money scam is the UK's very own contribution to the Covid absurdity) and visit Haworth again... some sunny day as Vera Lynn, another one that left us last year, used to sing. We are not so optimistic about the rest of the challenges of our society... but, hey... one disaster at a time, please.

This new biography makes use of recent research including a return to the issues of her `twinship` with Emily (a critical `twin`, as Wildfell Hall shows). The work also examines the family events of the autumn of 1837, when her life `hung by a thread.` Where possible primary sources are emphasised, avoiding Charlotte`s stage-managing of Brontë family history.

This 1902 book, originally intended for private
circulation, is a memoir of George Smith (1824–1901), founder, proprietor and publisher of The Cornhill Magazine and later the Dictionary of National Biography. The small volume, compiled by Smith's wife, consists of a memoir of Smith by Sidney Lee, followed by four short autobiographical pieces that Smith wrote for The Cornhill. He recalls his years at the publishing house of Smith, Elder and Co.; his encounters with Charlotte Brontë, who stayed with the Smiths in London; his idea of founding a magazine; and the 'lawful pleasures' of court cases for libel.

Enter the world of the Brontës with this 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Travel across the blustery Yorkshire moors and into the dark, gloomy schoolrooms and firelit drawing rooms of nineteenth-century England to spot Cathy,
Heathcliff, Jane Eyre, Mr Rochester, Helen Graham, Arthur Huntingdon and a host of other characters while you build the puzzle. Includes a fold-out poster that highlights characters, locations and real-life figures.