Caroline Vernon – The illegitimate daughter of Northangerland and Louisa Vernon, and half-sister to Mary, Henry, Edward, and Sir William Percy. It both is and isn’t; Greenberg states right at the beginning of the text that what follows inspired by the Brontës and their creations, but this is a book about her Glass Town. Four children: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne have invented a world so real and vivid that they can step right into it. k.a Montmorenci- A Verdopoltian nobleman and wayward companion of Alexander Percy in his youth before becoming a political ally in his wars against Zamorna. Comics and classic literature — while both equally worthwhile forms of written entertainment — don’t always mix well.

These characters sometimes have several different aliases and the spellings are not always consistent.After Percy fails to execute Zamorna during a period of civil war she leaves him, becoming the mistress of Lord Macara Lofty, as is evident from Stancliffe’s Hotel (1838). Creativity, burnout, inspiration, guilt, it all comes to play within the walls of Glass Town, resulting in a manic and obsessive tale with Victorian sensibilities. xxvii On the manuscript The History of the Young Men (1830–1831), the British Museum highlights that "it is impossible to ignore the imperialist ideology of the 19th century in this fictional history.

This is a large, thick book that is an absolute pleasure to look upon and hold, with a beautiful red ribbon incorporated as a page marker. One glaring omission from this is the character of Charles Wellesley (Charlotte’s favourite pseudonym, originally named Lord Charles Wellesley) who features prominently in Charlotte’s stories and in this text, but who isn’t given his own introduction by Greenberg.Pretty much anything connected with the Brontë juvenilia will get my attention but this interaction between creator and character in the form of a graphic novel was especially exciting. She first appears in Branwell Brontë’s narrative The Politics of Verdopolis (1834), and later became one of Charlotte Brontë’s favourite characters. It is the perfect combination of clever, crazy, and just a tiny bit creepy, and will appeal to anyone who has wondered about how imagination shapes us, as well as to card-carrying Bronte fans. I have to say that the sections featuring Charles are my absolute favourite; it’s Charlotte thrashing it out not only with her own creation, but with herself and there’s even a nice little nod to her existential tale, Strange Events (1830).

I have a wide interest in history ranging from Wars of the Roses, country houses, Stuarts, Georgians, Louis XIV, Napoleon and criminals. The earliest incarnation of the, by then, four Brontë siblings’ creative world was Glass Town, which later expanded into the world of Angria. The experience of this made-up world is so real, it brings us closer to the family themselves, and you feel like you understand what it was to be a Bronte sibling - gifted, isolated, tragic, and loved.Rowan Coleman A totally immersive read into the world of the famous Bronte juvenilia, both of the fiction and its creators.

Ashantees -The Ashantees were originally wooden ninepins who represented Native Africans and were the enemies of the Young Men in the Brontës’ earliest tales. Culture24 highlighted that "the Brontës featured themselves as Gods in their worlds, of which they wrote long sagas in tiny micro-script, as well as using both fictional and real-life characters, reminiscent of the creations of JRR Tolkein [sic] and CS Lewis.Robert Patrick S’death – A later incarnation of Chief Genius Brannii, S’death is a villainous character and associate of the young Alexander Percy, but still murders his father and wife. With so much going on, it would be very difficult to adapt for the screen without the viewer missing huge chunks of background information, character growth, and plot development. Proud, loyal, and moral, she is seen by many critics and readers as a precursor to Jane Eyre due to her rejection of Sir William Percy, who desires her to become his mistress. If you want an in depth look at the large and varied juvenile output of the Brontës I would always recommend Nicola Friar’s remarkable blog on that matter – but this serves as a fascinating introduction to what can be a complex subject.