In this volume we share Charlotte Brontë's experience for four crucial years. The success of Jane Eyre and the strange power of Wuthering Heights made the 'brothers Bell' the 'universal theme of conversation'; but privately the family endured the deaths of Branwell Brontë in September and Emily in December 1848, followed by Anne's in May 1849. Haunted by the fear that she also would succumb, Charlotte found salvation in writing Shirley, published in October 1849, and comfort in her friendship and correspondence with Ellen Nussey, with her publishers-especially George Smith-with Mrs Gaskell, and (for a time) Harriet Martineau. She may also have received a proposal of marriage from Smith, Edler's manager, James Taylor.

Follow James and Sadie Grey, separated by one crisis after another as James is called to a difficult birth, before being summoned north to The Hollow, a haven for young girls who suffer a variety of traumas, to investigate a rash of mysterious 'faintings.' At home, Sadie cares for patients and the practice, and encounters several mysteries of her own, including a hidden pregnancy, a fake birth, and a mistaken baby, who vanishes after a mishap at the county fair when a lantern tips during a Fox sisters' s?ance.

William Sharp (1855-1905) conducted one of the most audacious literary deceptions of his or any time. Sharp was a Scottish poet, novelist, biographer and editor who in 1893 began to write critically and commercially successful books under the name Fiona Macleod. This was far more than just a pseudonym: he corresponded as Macleod, enlisting his sister to provide the handwriting and address, and for more than a decade "Fiona Macleod" duped not only the general public but such literary luminaries as William Butler Yeats and, in America, E. C. Stedman. Sharp wrote "I feel another self within me now more than ever; it is as if I were possessed by a spirit who must speak out". This three-volume collection brings together Sharp’s own correspondence – a fascinating trove in its own right, by a Victorian man of letters who was on intimate terms with writers including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Walter Pater, and George Meredith – and the Fiona Macleod letters, which bring to life Sharp’s intriguing "second self". With an introduction and detailed notes by William F. Halloran, this richly rewarding collection offers a wonderful insight into the literary landscape of the time, while also investigating a strange and underappreciated phenomenon of late-nineteenth-century English literature. It is essential for scholars of the period, and it is an illuminating read for anyone interested in authorship and identity.

Semi-facsimile and bilingual edition (English and Spanish) of the nine Letters on Landscape Painting, published by Durand in 1855 in The Crayon (the first periodical publication devoted to fine arts in America), in which he picked up his poetic and praxis art, combining the most spiritualized reflections with the most practical pictorial tips.