Today I’ve got two comic books for you, both by Isabel Greenberg. I’ve written briefly about her two previous graphic novels: The Encyclopedia of Early Earth was one of my favorite books of 2013, and The One Hundred Nights of Hero was a spin on Scheherezade, with a woman foiling a man’s plans through storytelling. Both of the books borrow and remix from folktales and mythology, often giving a voice or more agency to the women in the stories. They are large-format books, taller than most picture books, to showcase Greenberg’s illustrations — they have a kind of rough quality to them that calls to mind medieval tapestries and fairy tale books, which is a great fit for the subject matter. Greenberg’s next two books are a bit more traditionally sized, though they are still pretty hefty hardcovers at over 200 pages each.
Glass Town: The Imaginary World of the Brontës
This book is a mix of nonfiction and fiction. As kids, the Brontë siblings — Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne — dreamed up an entire world together, writing stories and creating characters and imagining the landscape. Since they didn’t all have the same desires for it, there were compromises and drama and arguments, but they all lived in it together, casting themselves as the Genii, the kings and queens of the land.
Greenberg’s version uses the historical facts of the Brontës as well as the characters and plot details taken from their extensive writing, but she has also embellished and made her own guesses about Glass Town as well. The framing story pictures Charlotte as an adult, having an ongoing conversation with Charles Wellesley, one of the characters she created for the world, as they reflect on the creation of Glass Town and all of the various things that happened in it. Charlotte’s own contributions included Arthur Wellesley, who seems like a terrible scoundrel: he was arrogant, unfaithful, interested in conquest — and yet Charlotte was in love with him, as he was also this imagined romantic ideal from when she was a child. Branwell, the brother, loved stories about war and conquest. The two younger sisters, Emily and Anne, had creative differences — they didn’t like the wars, the tropical climates, or the idea that characters could be killed and then brought back to life. There was a rift, and they set off to make their own world.
When Charlotte finally had to go away to school, she tried to put Glass Town behind her, but she simply couldn’t let go. She secretly continued to write the complex plotlines, even as she told her younger sisters that they needed to focus on school. Eventually the sisters became published authors, turning their “scribblemania” into something that could be shared with the rest of the world.
It’s a really fascinating account. I knew very little about the Brontës other than what I’d read in high school English class. We read Jane Eyre by Charlotte and Wuthering Heights by Emily, but I don’t think I even knew about Anne (or the brother Branwell), and I’m not sure I was mature enough at the time to really appreciate the themes of the novels. Glass Town paints a picture of their vivid imaginations — particularly Charlotte’s — as well as the various societal pressures that they faced.
Young Hag and the Witches’ Quest
Now we return to pure fiction: Young Hag and the Witches’ Quest is Greenberg’s take on Arthurian legend: Morgan le Fay, Merlin, the Lady of the Lake, and so on, told from the perspective an old witch. Going by Ancient Crone (because real names have power), the witch, along with her daughter (“Nearly Wizened One”) and granddaughter (the newly christened “Young Hag”) are the last witches in Britain. In Ancient Crone’s time, there was magic in Britain, but the doors between the worlds have been shut. Young Hag has grown up hearing these stories, but she’s starting to doubt them.
That’s when they come across a changeling baby, and a boy who wants to get his baby sister back. Can they bring magic back to Britain? First, they need to know what happened in the first place, and Ancient Crone’s tales fill in the gaps. We hear about King Arthur and his knights, but we also find out more about the women involved: the Lady of the Lake, Guinevere, and particularly Morgan le Fay. As Greenberg says, she is a contentious figure and has played many different roles in different versions of the tales, and I really enjoyed her take on the character and her motivations.
Young Hag is Greenberg’s own creation, and she plays a prominent part of the book. We hear bits and pieces of Arthurian legend whenever Ancient Crone has time to tell some stories, but the rest of the time we are following them as Young Hag tries to help Tom find his baby sister — which in itself is an adventure with some magical encounters.
I really love the way that Greenberg helps me look at stories through a different lens, to see perspectives that were omitted or ignored. If you like folklore and fairy tales, I encourage you to check out her books for a fresh take on them!
My Current Stack
I’ve read a few time travel–related books recently, so I might do a column about those in the near future, and I’m looking over my piles to see what to read next. So far, I’ve been sticking to my resolution to weed at least one book a week (usually several!) but it will still take some time before I can actually see the floor of my office, so we’ll keep going.
Disclosure: I received review copies of these books. Affiliate links to bookshop.org help support my writing and independent booksellers!
