Glass Town

author: Isabel Greenberg

Glass Town is an enchanting graphic novel that has, in professional terms, “weird but effective art.” That’s the kind of lofty professional assessment that gets me the big bucks, folks. Glass Town is about the imaginary worlds that the Bronte siblings created. While I was initially put off by the art, it grew on me, and the plot enchanted me from the first page.

In real life and as described in Glass Town, young Charlotte and her surviving siblings, Branwell, Emily, and Anne, created an imaginary city called Glass Town. They were joined by Emily and Anne, and proceeded to create a paracosm (my new favorite word – it refers to very elaborate world-building) called the Glasstown Confederacy and the world of Angria. When Charlotte Bronte began teaching in Brussels, she became so consumed with thoughts of Glass Town that she feared she was losing touch with reality. She vowed to spend no more time writing or thinking about Angria.

So – the framing device in this book is that Charles, a character from Glass Town, has come to invite Charlotte to return to Glass Town now that Branwell, Anne, and Emily have died. Charles and Charlotte discuss the whole history of Glass Town, why Charlotte rejected it, and whether or not she should return. Within Glass Town itself, there is MUCH DRAMA and not all of it is of Charlotte’s invention. The characters of Glass Town have existed for so long that, to Charlotte’s dismay, they began to act without her.

I adored this book. Loved it. I wanted it to go on and on. Charlotte’s character fits the way I’ve always imagined her (and the way biographers have described her). It was fascinating to see the evolution of the one-dimensional Glass Town characters into the complex characters of her adult work. I fretted over Charlotte’s real-life problems. I smiled whenever Charles teased her about a certain Arthur Nicholls (who Charlotte, in real life, married). I rooted wildly for Zenobia in Glass Town. I felt immersed in Charlotte’s reality and then, along with her, immersed in her imagination.

I had a hard time getting used to the art, but I have to admit that the art is a big part of what, no pun intended, drew me in. Greenberg uses very stark lines and colors for the real England scenes and she does a great job of conveying movement. The wind sweeps the moors. Pages fly about the room. The classrooms that Charlotte hates feel unbearably confining and cramped. The character’s faces are not always expressive, but their body language is, and everyone has BIG MOODS expressed in wide gestures that feel appropriately dramatic. In Glass Town, the art style remains the same but the colors become rich reds and maroons and purples. It feels expansive and passionate even when it isn’t described as such, because we can see the passion in the color scheme.

Finally, this book stuck in my head. It’s easy to feel empathy towards the characters even when they are acting badly. I felt Charlotte’s temptation to lose herself in Glass Town in a visceral way. The longing for a more colorful imaginary world, one full of exactly the right amount of drama, one that is exciting yet controllable, came across powerfully and I related to it as I’m sure many others will as well. I’ve found it hard to start a new book since closing this one. Like Charlotte, my thoughts remain in Glass Town.

– Carrie S

Historical: European, Graphic Novel

The Leper of Saint Giles

author: Ellis Peters

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m making my way through the Cadfael mysteries. Whenever the quarantimes get too overwhelming, I head off to Wales-adjacent England in the 1100s to hang out with a former solider now monk who brews wine and herbal remedies, solves murders, and often unites star-crossed lovers (and sometimes flirts with ladies, too). There’s a soothing, slow-paced atmosphere to the Cadfael series, like the literary version of dust sparkles over a field in the late afternoon sun.

My current favorite of the few I’ve read is The Leper of Saint Giles, the fifth book in the series. I liked book one, A Morbid Taste for Bones a fair bit, because it introduces how wily and quick-thinking Cadfael is, and how much monastery bureaucracy the dude has to deal with on the daily (and how much drinking wine helps in all things) (and to that I say, AMEN). The Leper of Saint Giles was even more fun because the romance is more central to the narrative. In fact, the motivation for the murder is hidden by the culprit behind a forbidden love between a rich young woman controlled by her shitful guardians, about to be married off to an equally shitful older dude, and shitful older dude’s squire, who is (oh noes!) in love with said young heiress. There’s courtly yet secret proclamations, sneaking around, and, of course, a murder to solve. The pace of the Cadfael novels can be uneven, with some very slow parts, but this one starts out rather quickly and picks up momentum as it progresses. I had a very hard time putting it down.

This particular story also worked so well for me because of how the young man up to his neck in peril hides in a nearby leper colony currently being managed by a young monk who used to be Cadfael’s assistant in the herbal gardens. The people who live in the colony are as wily as Cadfael, with a few at nearly boss-level wily-skills, and they help in subtle, sneaky ways I found delightful. And as per any mystery and these in particular, by the end, murder is solved, shitful people outwitted, true love wins the day, Cadfael figures all sorts of things out, wine is quaffed, and all is well.

As Julia aka Mizzelle pointed out in the comments to a podcast episode, the peacefulness I find in the series might seem at odds with some elements of the setting, especially the peril of illnesses that Cadfael treats (to say nothing of all the murder) and the anarchy of uncertainty with Empress Maud and King Stephen battling over the English throne. In The Leper of Saint Giles, there is also the pervasive sadness of a painful illness that forces many into isolation, and the dedicated, emotionally difficult but vital work of the community to care for and comfort those who are ill.

The fact that life in these novels continues in incremental, gentle steps, whether those steps be the pattern of daily prayers for the monastery, the change of seasons, the preparation of wine and remedies, or the steps to solving murders and uniting people who love one another, is deeply reassuring, and deeply appreciated. There’s mystery, secondary romances, wily monks, and the drinking of wine, and I have sixteen more books to go. Excellent.

– SB Sarah

Historical: European, Mystery/Thriller

The Oracle Code

author: Marieke Nijkamp

DC comics has been publishing graphic novels for YA readers that retell the origin stories of some of DC’s comic book heroes (see: Shadow of the Batgirl). This has been a really fun run of stories, with an emphasis on inclusion among writers, artists, and characters. Each story is a stand-alone so you don’t have to worry about committing to following a character for hundreds of issues or for knowing anything about them ahead of time.

In The Oracle Code, teen Barbara Gordon loses her ability to walk after being shot while fighting crime. She moves into the Arkham Center for Independence, where she is supposed to get physical and emotional therapy and learn to use her wheelchair. Many of these therapies seem very helpful – but the head of the Institute keeps talking about “fixing” people so you know that’s not good – and then people start disappearing. What’s a hacker crime fighter to do?

I liked the combination of gothic (creepy house, ghost stories) with modern (computers, sleek medical facilities), as well as the mix of humor, tragedy, terror, and super fun mystery solving. I also thought that Barbara’s journey from grief to acceptance and finally to embracing her new life was well done. Friendship is shown to play a critical role in healing and thriving and I adored the other teens that Barbara meets at the Institute. Meanwhile, it was made abundantly clear that no one who uses a wheelchair needs to be fixed, although some therapies and training sessions are handy.

The anti-ableism message of the story is not subtle, but sometimes subtly is overrated. I enjoyed this story and it gave me a new perspective from which to approach persona and fictional disability narratives. The only thing holding this story back is the sense that it has so much emotional and plot baggage to sort through that it could have used a bit of expansion and breathing room. I recommend this for comics fans as well as people interested in disability representation.

– Carrie S

Graphic Novel, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult