In 1847, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë published their first adult novels, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. When contemporary readers and critics discovered the true identity of the authors, they were astonished that these novels were the work of three daughters of a parson with a living in a village on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. These were writers of rare talent, even genius, but their achievement was not sudden or spontaneous. They were already experienced authors of Gothic fictions, romances, historical sagas, magazine and newspaper articles, and poetry. They had served a long apprenticeship.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my husband, Terence Rees, and my daughter, Catrin, for their help and encouragement during the writing of this book. I would also like to thank fellow writers Linda Newbery, Adèle Geras, Julia Jarman, Cindy Jeffries, Yvonne Coppard and Helena Pielichaty for their writerly companionship. I am grateful to the staff at the Brontë Parsonage Museum Library, Haworth, Yorkshire, and particularly Amy Rowbottom, for allowing me to view their collection of the Brontë juvenilia. And to Debra Collinge for advice on things medical, and to Faye Reason and Lucy Coats for telling me something about shamanism.
I would also like to thank my editor at Pushkin Press, Sarah Odedina, for her support and enthusiasm for this project, and Madeleine Stevens for her careful copy-editing.
Find out more about my inspiration and research on my website: www.celiarees.com.
TEEN AND YA FICTION
FROM PUSHKIN PRESS
THE RED ABBEY CHRONICLES
MARESI
NAONDEL
MARESI RED MANTLE
Maria Turtschaninoff
Translated by Annie Prime
‘Combines a flavour of The Handmaid’s Tale with bursts of excitement reminiscent of Harry Potter’s magic duels’
Observer
THE BEGINNING WOODS
Malcolm McNeill
‘I loved every word and was envious of quite a few… A modern classic – rich, funny and terrifying’
Eoin Colfer
THE RECKLESS SERIES
1. THE PETRIFIED FLESH
2. LIVING SHADOWS
3. THE GOLDEN YARN
Cornelia Funke
‘A wonderful storyteller’
Sunday Times
PIGLETTES
Clémentine Beauvais
Translated by Clémentine Beauvais
‘A triumph of a book; so funny, so original, so sharp, so warm’
Katherine Rundell, author of Rooftoppers
Emily Bain Murphy
‘The Disappearances is a wonder of a book. I lost myself in this world where reflections, scents and stars go missing, and revelled in its reveal’
Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink & Stars
THE WILDINGS
Nilanjana Roy
‘A stylish, bloody, literary addition, set in India and already a considerable critical success there. Rich in cat telepathy and shuddery feral madness’
Guardian
THE OKSA POLLOCK SERIES
1. THE LAST HOPE
2. THE FOREST OF LOST SOULS
3. THE HEART OF TWO WORLDS
4. TAINTED BONDS
Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf
Translated by Sue Rose
‘A feisty heroine, lots of sparky tricks and evil opponents could fill a gap left by the end of the Harry Potter series’
Daily Mail
Copyright
Pushkin Press
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Copyright © 2018 Celia Rees
First published by Pushkin Press in 2018
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Hardback ISBN 13: 978–1–78269–164–8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Pushkin Press
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