Charlotte and Emily must enter a fantasy world that they invented in order to rescue their siblings in this adventurous and fiercely intelligent novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Inside a small Yorkshire parsonage, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë have invented a game called Glass Town, where their toy soldiers fight Napoleon and no one dies. This make-believe land helps the four escape from a harsh reality: Charlotte and Emily are being sent away to a dangerous boarding school, a school they might not return from. But on this Beastliest Day, the day Anne and Branwell walk their sisters to the train station, something incredible happens: the train whisks them all away to a real Glass Town, and the children trade the moors for a wonderland all their own.
This is their Glass Town, exactly like they envisioned it…almost. They certainly never gave Napoleon a fire-breathing porcelain rooster instead of a horse. And their soldiers can die; wars are fought over the potion that raises the dead, a potion Anne would very much like to bring back to England. But when Anne and Branwell are kidnapped, Charlotte and Emily must find a way to save their siblings. Can two English girls stand against Napoleon’s armies, especially now that he has a new weapon from the real world? And if he escapes Glass Town, will England ever be safe again?
Together the Brontë siblings must battle with a world of their own creation if they are to make it back to England alive in this magical celebration of authorship, creativity, and classic literature from award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente.
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“The rich tones of narrator Kate Reading’s voice are a perfect fit for this poetic tale of the Brontë children’s adventures in the imaginary wonderland of their own making. The story is filled with dazzling imagery and glorious wordplay, which Reading masterfully performs with a lilting style that highlights the beautiful alliteration and musical assonance of Valente’s work. The voices selected to characterize each of the Brontë siblings and the fantastical figures of Glass Town splendidly highlight small aspects of the characters, major and minor. Reading sensitively performs the range of delicate emotions—grief, wonder, betrayal, delight—that will make this story an enduring favorite fans will want to revisit many times. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
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