(A brief digression from my usual reviews of recently published books)
Childhood imaginings
Children discovering the Brontës* may be interested to explore some outstanding fiction inspired by the stories these famous siblings invented when they themselves were children. This might particularly apply to any keen young readers (or indeed older ones) who have visited the former Brontë home, the fascinating Haworth Parsonage in Yorkshire.
The young Brontës frequently made up games and plays about their own imagined lands and sometimes wrote these romantic adventures down in tiny hand-made books, which can still be seen in the Parsonage Museum. The four children often took inspiration for their characters from a set of twelve toy soldiers belonging to Branwell, brother to Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Frequently too they centred their fantastically imagined events in and around a place they called ‘Glass Town’.
The Town
Possibly the most generally accessible of the books based on the Brontë childhood stories is a wonderful graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg, first published in 2020 and called simply Glass Town. Although it does involve some fantasising on the author’s part, it is in fact reasonably true to both the historical/biographical facts and to the content of the children’s imaginings, all put together as a complex and arresting book.
I know some adults can be rather sniffy about graphic novels, but any prejudice is misplaced. The best can provide absorbing reads, often offering a good deal of literary and intellectual challenge. It is certainly the case here and this clever fictionalisation is well worth the time of readers of any age from about 10 upward.
The Twelve
Pauline Clarke’s true modern classic (renamed The Return of the Twelves in the US) won the Carnegie Medal back in 1962. It is the first children’s novel I am aware of to take up this Brontë theme. However it is not about the family directly but rather a boy who, a hundred or so years later, rediscovers Branwell Brontë’s set of toy soldiers, ‘The Twelve’. The figures respond to the warmth of his attention and come alive, still with the names and personas the Brontë children gave them. Together the boy and his tiny friends become embroiled in escaping the clutches of an unscrupulous dealer who wished to obtain the soldiers as valuable Brontë artefacts. The book inevitably now feels a little dated in some respect, but notwithstanding, it is a real gem of a story, original and totally charming. It does not seem to be remembered or read anywhere near as often as it merits.
Clearly this is not a book to entice reluctant readers, but for committed, bookish children, it will provide much of real interest and enjoyment. (Although currently out of print, it does seem that reasonably priced used copies are still around.)
The Game
Of the prose fiction here, this would certainly be the most approachable for many MG readers, although it is a fairly long book. Its emphasis is strongly on whimsical fantasy entertainment. Popular American author Catherynne M. Valence uses the Brontë children as her main characters and the novel starts with its feet securely in the realms of history/biography. Indeed it also employs many of the fantasy characters the Brontës invented. However, the author’s imagination soon takes over and children and reader are whisked into exciting speculative adventure way beyond the original little stories. The writer succeeds very well in maintaining a strong period feel, in action and language, without this ever becoming heavy or pretentious. Within fictional bounds (or lack of them) she develops both characters and plot convincingly and if she plays fast and loose with historical characters, then so did the Brontë children. This book really is tremendous fun and is very much in the spirit, if not the letter, of the real children who inspired it.
As well as a very entertaining read in its own right, the book would work either way: as an interesting follow-up to those who have already started to find out about the real Brontës, or as an initial stimulus for those yet to discover them.
The Wars
Celia Rees’s book is aimed essentially at a YA readership, although is almost certainly only for the more sophisticated end of this audience, with a style and challenging ‘literary’ complexity well towards an adult model. Published in 2019, it is, I think, the most recent work from a writer long held in high regard and is in many ways archetypical of a late work. Although owing some inspiration to, and often referencing ,the Brontës and their childhood imaginings, it is is no way biographical. Veering between a contemporary setting and wildly speculative fantasy, it is a multi-layered, in-depth exploration of the relationship between reality and imagination. It provides a riveting, if occasionally confusing, reading journey, with a great deal to offer to the right readers. It is certainly interesting to pull out the threads that lead back to the Brontë world and see what a complex tapestry of her own this experienced and undoubtedly talented author has woven from them.
*Footnote
There are some delightful children’s non-fiction books on the subject. I particularly like:
And a brilliant recent publication (just out in paperback):
Strongly recommended for older readers, Catherine Rayner’s book is semi-fictionalised but soundly based on biographical evidence:
