I had vaguely known that Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne had created and written about a fantasy world, but didn't really know anything about the tales going in. The collection is separated into one section for each of the siblings and begins with Charlotte, who wrote most of the stories of Glass Town and Angria. They start out fantastical, with miles-high giants and guiding spirits, but quickly become straight-forward melodrama with an odd obsession with the Duke of Wellington and his fictional descendants. Although the stories are decidedly strange, it's not difficult to see the seeds of Charlotte's later work there.

I chose this collection partly because it also contained selections from Branwell Brontë and I was curious to see how his writing compared to that of his sisters. I found his style to be much the same as Charlotte's, if slightly more bellicose. A pity he didn't live longer as he might have turned into an interesting writer.

Emily's poems of the imaginary realm of Gondal were even more emo than I had expected them to be. I really should have made a count of how many times the word "drear" appeared--I'm certain it was in the double digits!

And lastly were Anne's writings. I wouldn't call her writing cheerful, but she didn't wallow in the misery of her characters. Although her poetry didn't bowl me over, I found it to be the work of an intelligent, sensible mind. ( )

An excellent anthology of some of the Brontë juvenilia that might be read in conjunction with Heather Glen's Penguin edition Tales of Angria (which I've got in a TBR pile somewhere). The latter, however, is strictly Charlotte and there's some overlap between the two books, both of which include Mina Laury, Caroline Vernon, and excerpts from Charlotte's "Roe Head Diary" – but the Penguin edition also includes Stancliffe's Hotel, The Duke of Zamorna, and Henry Hastings.

If you're going to read just one of the two books, though, this Oxford University Press edition edited by Caroline Alexander is probably the preferable one since, in addition to Charlotte's Mina Laury, Caroline Vernon, and "Roe Head Diary" excerpts, it also includes Charlotte's Albion and Marina and The Spell and a few other fragments that apparently do not appear in Glen's Penguin edition. Also, Alexander's OUP edition includes hard-to-find material by Branwell along with some poetry by Emily and Anne – although this is strictly Gondal-related poetry and, consequently, some of Emily's best poems are not included.

Alexander's OUP edition also includes a very good introduction and excellent endnoting, although the endnotes (as is customary with OUP) are difficult to access since they are unnumbered and identified only by page number and a brief textual reference. ( )

This book features prose an poetry by Anne, Charlotte, Emily, and Branwell Brontë, the bulk of which is written by Charlotte because more of her early work has survived compared to her siblings'.

None of the pre-1840 poems were intended for public viewing, thus what's presented here is first draft material written for the Brontës' personal entertainment. Because of this is does appear quite rough and inconsistent to the general reader.

The stories of Glass Town, Agria, and Gondal have a fantasy element to them. They are not in the same league as 'Jane Eyre' and co., but the reader must remember that these works were born out of the Brontës' childhood. Their passion and practice for writing led the three sisters to the eventual fame. Branwell never achieved the heights he was expected to and his life took a turn for the worst.

Although this collection is titled as 'Early Writings', it does include poems by Anne and Emily that were written in adulthood. The reason for their inclusion was because this poetry contains references to their early works and characters.

I normally avoid poetry like the plague, as it never appeals to me, but with such little prose fiction available by Anne and Emily I decided to read everything here. I actually liked most of Anne's. Rather than writing something short and cryptic she instead composed epic poems that told stories that I could comprehend. Some of Emily's were of a similar vein. I couldn't focus on Branwell's though and gave up.

This collection also includes short diary extracts by the three sisters. Charlotte's were written during her time spent at Roe Head. Anne and Emily had a tradition of writing down their current situation and aspirations, after which they stored them in a tin box. They would open this box three or four years later - on or near Emily's birthday - read them and repeat the process.

It's sad to read the final ones were they wonder how they will be in several years time. Anne prophetically uses the words, 'if we're all alive', in her final entry, but she is 'hoping for the best.'

It's a tragic shame that these talented women died so young. With a classic novel like 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', I wonder what other magnificent work Anne would have created had she lived into her thirties. Such a loss - times three.

Life is cruel. ( )