As some of you who have stuck with our blog throughout the years might remember, back in 2016 I received an OwlCrate box, and in it Lena Coakley's Worlds of Ink and Shadow. Being back home for the holidays gave me the opportunity to catch up with the piles of unread books I had left behind. This included Worlds of Ink and Shadow.
Worlds of Ink and Shadow chronicles the juvenile and teenage years of the Brontë siblings. Note: siblings not sisters. The obvious candidates are of course present — Anne, Charlotte, and Emily. However, the novel also includes their lesser known brother, Branwell Brontë. In real life, Branwell died before publishing any of his texts. For me, it was surprising to find out that the Brontë sisters were not the only writers in the family. After reading Worlds of Ink and Shadow, I want to both read the entire corpus of the Brontës and learn more about their biography.
Worlds of Ink and Shadow is a fantasy novel, weaving between our world and the world of Glass Town, which the Brontës wrote stories about well into adulthood. Readers who are familiar with the works of the Brontës can see clear echoes of their future characters in the characters living in Glass Town. As the siblings continue visiting their fictional world, characters start to slip into the real world with the authors. Avid readers can sympathize with the struggle the Brontës face in the novel: they feel as if the characters they are writing are too real. I am often haunted by the characters I read about, thankfully not as literally as the Brontë siblings.
This novel is a must-read for any fan of the Brontë siblings, and works well as a fantasy novel without this wider context. Have any of you read, or wish to read, Worlds of Ink and Shadow?
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
-Laura
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