Emily Brand

This looks exciting!

Win a copy of Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly. Published by Saraband and longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of the @womensprize.bsky.social longlisted Kingfisher, share this post and tag a friend you think would like to read it 💛

*UK only. Closes midnight Sunday 29 March 2026. The winner will be notified on Monday 30 March.

#Booksky
📚💙

Never mind the endless Jane Austen adaptations, here's a period drama I'd watch:

Prison Break, except it's 1740s London & the hero is a 5 ft 4 Herefordshire woman called Elizabeth, with massive hands & massive feet

Come on @netflix.com it's what we all want

My photo shows a famous wall painting from Pompeii known as the Sappho fresco. It shows the head and upper body of a young woman framed inside a painted circular border. She faces forward. Her eyes are large and dark, gazing to one side with a calm and thoughtful expression, as if pausing mid-thought. Her skin is pale, and her hair is dark brown and tightly curled, forming small ringlets around her face. A thin golden hairnet holds her curls in place. She wears small gold hoop earrings, and a brown cloak over a green garment. In her right hand she holds a thin dark metal stylus (writing tool) up against her lips, as if thinking about what to write. In her left hand she holds a small rectangular wooden wax writing tablet. The fresco is now on display at the Muso Archeologico Nazionale in Naples

The ‘Sappho’ fresco from Pompeii.

A beautiful Roman portrait of a young woman for #InternationalWomensDay

She holds a writing tablet, and raises a writing stylus to her lips in thoughtful contemplation. 55-70 AD.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Yes I wasn't sure which would be weirder!

Austen herself was around 5 ft 7, so would be tall even now!

Nice detective work, I hope there are descendants out there

I feel like the massive hands would be more challenging 😂

Jane Austen/fashion expert Hilary Davidson has estimated that the average height for a UK woman c.1810 was 5 ft 2 – so I imagine this would have been a few inches above average in 1740

Never mind the endless Jane Austen adaptations, here's a period drama I'd watch:

Prison Break, except it's 1740s London & the hero is a 5 ft 4 Herefordshire woman called Elizabeth, with massive hands & massive feet

Come on @netflix.com it's what we all want

Assistant Professor in 18th Century Literature at Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin Discover Assistant Professor in 18th Century Literature jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQS657/a...

Writing for Life 2026 - Wollaton Hall Tuesday 10th March 2026

Aspiring writers! The folk at Wollaton Hall (aka Batman’s house) are running an event for young people hoping for a career in writing

I’ll be there to talk history & non-fiction, alongside brilliant children's authors, poets, & novelists
🗓️ 10 March, 4–7pm wollatonhall.org.uk/writing-for-...

It's a beautiful place!

Writing for Life 2026 - Wollaton Hall Tuesday 10th March 2026

Aspiring writers! The folk at Wollaton Hall (aka Batman’s house) are running an event for young people hoping for a career in writing

I’ll be there to talk history & non-fiction, alongside brilliant children's authors, poets, & novelists
🗓️ 10 March, 4–7pm wollatonhall.org.uk/writing-for-...

I love Fiona Sampson’s work on Mary Shelley so I’m VERY excited to have my hands on her new biography of the incredible Aurore Dupin / George Sand

Swipe for the jazzy real cover, it’s out now ⭐

Congrats @fionasampson.bsky.social & thank you for the sneak peek @doubledayuk.bsky.social 📚

I love Fiona Sampson’s work on Mary Shelley so I’m VERY excited to have my hands on her new biography of the incredible Aurore Dupin / George Sand

Swipe for the jazzy real cover, it’s out now ⭐

Congrats @fionasampson.bsky.social & thank you for the sneak peek @doubledayuk.bsky.social 📚

One of Marie Antoinette’s chambermaids … it’s very sad!

That chapter did happen to be of particular interest to me, it’s greatly informed my own account

Yes, me too!

a man in a suit and tie is waving his hand in the air in front of a crowd . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is waving his hand in the air in front of a crowd .

Me when trying my best to write a fairly grisly & emotional French Revolution death, but my toddler is insisting on listening to Westlife over and over and over and over

I completely agree, and it’s made me want to watch To Walk Invisible again, which I loved

Emily in Yorkshire is something I, personally, can get very much behind

That’s very well put!

I remember loving To Walk Invisible, so recommend that too!

Avoiding that other Brontë thing for reasons, I recently watched 'Emily' with Emma Mackey instead.

I thought much of it was beautiful & – though obviously very fictionalised – quite moving. Wonder what the rest of the history world thinks? #wutheringheights

Book page showing suggested ring inscriptions, including ‘Île ring thy thumb, then clap thy bum’

A brief escape to the 17th century, where one writer is giving his suggestions for heartfelt inscriptions on poesy rings to a lover

Truly a lost golden age of roman-... oh wait no never mind
#17c

I suspect it has discoloured slightly and would have been a brighter silver, as was the case with Princess Charlotte’s wedding dress of 1816

Happy Valentine’s Day to this magnificent royal wedding gown of 1774, now in the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition 😍

This dress of silver brocaded silk – similar to that worn by the 14-year-old Marie Antoinette at her own wedding – belonged to Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, future queen of Sweden

Happy Valentine’s Day to this magnificent royal wedding gown of 1774, now in the Marie Antoinette Style exhibition 😍

This dress of silver brocaded silk – similar to that worn by the 14-year-old Marie Antoinette at her own wedding – belonged to Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta, future queen of Sweden

As we are all talking about Wuthering Heights these days here is my own pilgrimage (many moons ago) to Brontë country, including Top Withens, the ruined farmhouse that supposedly inspired Emily 🌸