"In 1834, Charlotte Bronte, together with her brother Branwell, created the imaginary kingdom of Angria, of which she was to write prolifically for the next five years. The five 'novelettes' in this volume are the last of her Angrian tales. Written from the viewpoint of the cynical, gossipy Charles Townshend, they offer an ironic portrait of the intrigues, scandals and passions of an aristocratic beau monde. With their varied cast of characters - ranging from the ageing rake Northangerland and his Byronic son-in-law Zamorna to Elizabeth Hastings, the respectable young governess - they provide a glimpse into the mind and creative processes of the young writer who was to become one of the world's great novelists." "In her introduction, Heather Glen discusses these tales as fictions of the 1830s, wittily responsive to contemporary literary fashions, and explores the ways in which they experiment with fictional form. This edition also includes fragments from Bronte's journal, background material on Angria, a chronology, further reading, prefaces to each tale, appendices, notes and a glossary."--BOOK JACKET.