The game is an escape for the four siblings who have lost their mother, and their two oldest sisters contracted a fever and died at the boarding school where Charlotte and Emily are destined to return. On the Beastliest Day, the day of that return, Branwell and Anne are escorting their older sisters to meet the coach that will carry them away when they see the strangest thing--a man made out of words and paper, a magazine man!
The children follow this man into a world they can hardly believe. Not only is it beautiful and strange, but it is Glass Town, the very world they created in their own little room.
It all seems like great fun at first, but when Branwell and Anne are kidnapped, Charlotte and Emily must use all their wits to rescue their younger siblings and escape back to their own world.
Catherynne M. Valente's newest book is pure delight! Any fan of the Bronte siblings' creative work will enjoy this dive into their childhood world filled with Easter eggs referencing the future work of the children and child size versions of Jane Austin, Lord Byron, and even Queen Victoria. The girls' early version of feminism also butts up against Branwell's more masculine (and appropriate to the period) view of the world, and they begin to develop a more complex view of warfare as it is not entirely clear which side is in the right by the end. There is even discussion about theoretic physics! This is just a delightful book, but it's not for the faint of heart. It is lengthy and the language is in the style of the Brontes' own time. The plot does drag in a couple of places, but the philosophy more than makes up for it. Give this book to fans of classic fantasy. It may be a smaller audience, but this book will be a real treat!
Somewhere between Wonderland, Narnia, and Fairyland, you'll find Glass Town. This book has a lot of the whimsical feel of Valente's Fairyland novels, with an added literary edge. Highly recommend this flight of fancy!
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