Emily Bronte, b. 1818. Some critics insisted that Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights, must have been written by a man because no woman could have written such a passionate story. Emily Bronte died of tuberculosis one year after the publication of her only novel. She was 30 years old.

For children who are not quite ready for the sturm und drang of Wuthering Heights, I recommend The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke. It’s the story of a boy and his sisters who find in the attic of their new house twelve toy soldiers that magically come alive. The soldiers turn out to have belonged to another boy, Branwell, and his sisters, and keeping them a secret becomes a challenge.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California was born on this date in Graz, Austria in 1947.