Pronounce quickly, monarch. If you die and make no sign on the subject, woe to Angria… The sword of war is unsheathed and the blade will rankle in many a bosom ere Adrian be cold in his grave.

Inspired by a box of wooden toy soldiers given as a present to her elder brother Branwell in 1826, Charlotte Bronte and her siblings created a series of tales centred originally upon the imaginary realm of Glass Town, and its capital Verdopolis, and then later on the land of Angria. In ‘The Green Dwarf’, against the backdrop of war between the people of Verdopolis and Senegal, the arrogant aristocrat Colonel Percy and Mr Leslie, a low-born artist, are locked in a battle for the heart of the beautiful Lady Emily. Taking the form of a work written by the character Lord Charles Wellesley as an act of revenge, ‘The Spell’ tells of the plight of the realms of Angria and Wellingtonsland after they are left without an heir due to the death of the Marquis of Almeida.

Full of tragedy and passion, love and rivalry, the five sweeping tales contained in this volume display the precocious talent, lively imagination and flair for storytelling of the young Charlotte Bronte.