Of the three celebrated Brontë sisters, I have always liked to imagine that I share an affinity with Emily, not least because, on a superficial level, we share the same birthday. Although little is known about Emily, she was understood to be shy and reserved around strangers, preferring the company of close family and beloved pets over small talk with social acquaintances, and retreating into her imaginary worlds when she could not set out alone onto the moors near the Parsonage. For fellow introverts, Emily is irresistible, and Lancashire author Jane Eagland cleverly builds on the few available biographical details and anecdotes to create a sympathetic personality and an insight, albeit fictional, into Emily’s life in Haworth.

Written for young adults, yet open to Brontë readers of all ages, Eagland’s tale of the close bond between four siblings is both timeless and engaging. Emily is an endearing heroine, struggling to find her own voice, both in the stories she writes and the life that awaits her. Having already lost her mother and two sisters, Emily is stricken with terror when Charlotte announces she is going away to school at Roe Head. Who will guide her through Glass Town and wake her from nightmares with a comforting presence? There is younger sister Anne, of course, the precocious favourite of Aunt Elizabeth, and big brother Branwell, but Emily is closest to Charlotte and longs for her return. Emily’s curate father Patrick, softened into more of an affable Atticus Finch figure, brings home a stray dog, which Emily names Grasper and quickly bonds with. Her love of animals also results in one of the few dramatic scenes of the novel, bringing to life the anecdote of a mad dog turning on Emily and biting her arm. Amidst tentative friendships, unrequited flirtations, discoveries and departures, however, the heart of the story is the world within Emily. Her character is beautifully drawn, wanting only ‘to stay exactly where she is, doing exactly what she does, and for everyone else to do the same’.

Jane Eagland admits in her afterword to ‘treading on dangerous ground’ by ‘taking liberties’ with this fictional account of Emily’s younger years, but she has obviously done her research and any deliberate diversions from fact into fiction only serve to make the story more appealing to younger readers. Not that the author shies from the daily struggles that the Brontë s would have faced, describing with relish ‘the smell rising from the gutter’ beside Emily’s feet, and the ‘constraints of social etiquette’ faced by young girls; Branwell, ‘a candle flame wavering at every draft’, is encouraged to forge careers in art and journalism, whereas Charlotte, Emily and Anne are discouraged from promoting their own talents. The dialogue is free from the formal conventions of Victorian fiction, with the banter and bickering between Emily and her brother and sisters being instantly recognisable to young readers, and Emily, inspired by Charlotte’s outspoken friend Mary Taylor, appears very modern in her desire to live her life on her own terms.

The World Within is a captivating introduction to Emily Brontë, the quiet sister who preferred to stay at home, yet penned such a daring novel filled with dark characters. Jane Eagland even sneaks in a few references to Wuthering Heights, having Emily gather inspiration from Top Withens and listening to family servant Tabby’s tales of a wild and dark-eyed boy at Ponden Hall. Readers of all ages will be able to identify with the universal trials of adolescence faced by Emily, from sibling rivalry to starting a new school, while Brontë scholars can appreciate a fresh take on the traditional biography for a teenage audience. ( )