Charlotte is obsessed with Jane Eyre. She dreams of living in a mansion in the Yorkshire countryside instead of attending HarrabyComp. Charlotte's love life is pretty much non-existent, So she decides to look for a Mr Rochester for her mum.

Charlotte Brontë: legacies and afterlives is a timely reflection on the persistent fascination and creative engagement with Charlotte Brontë’s life and work. The new essays in this volume, which cover the period from Brontë’s first publication to the twenty-first century, explain why her work has endured in so many different forms and contexts. This book brings the story of Charlotte Brontë’s legacy up to date, analysing the intriguing afterlives of characters such as Jane Eyre and Rochester in neo-Victorian fiction, cinema, television, the stage and, more recently, on the web. Taking a fresh look at 150 years of engagement with one of the best-loved novelists of the Victorian period, from obituaries to vlogs, from stage to screen, from novels to erotic makeovers, this book reveals the author’s diverse and intriguing legacy. Engagingly written and illustrated, the book will appeal to both scholars and general readers.

Holly’s story will leave a lasting impression on all who travel with her. Memories of mum are the only thing that make Holly Hogan happy. She hates her foster family with their too-nice ways and their false sympathy. And she hates her life, her stupid school, and the way everyone is always on at her. Then she finds the wig, and everything changes. Wearing the long, flowing blond locks she feels transformed. She’s not Holly anymore, she’s Solace: the girl with the slinkster walk and the supersharp talk. She’s older, more confident—the kind of girl who can walk right out of her humdrum life, hitch to Ireland, and find her mum. The kind of girl who can face the world head-on. So begins a bittersweet and sometimes hilarious journey as Solace swaggers and Holly tiptoes across England and through memory, discovering her true self and unlocking the secrets of her past.

A breathtakingly original novel about love and destruction, from an award-winning Australian children’s author.

With the help of her sister and friend Austin, 12-year-old Anya puts together a kids' summer theater troupe, the Random Farms Kids' Theater, recruiting area kids as actors and crew members for a musical revue. Acting as director, Anya navigates the ups and downs of a showbiz life, including preparing scripts, finding a venue, and handling ticket sales, not to mention calming the actors' insecurities and settling conflicts. It's a lot of responsibility for a 12-year-old but Anya pulls it off. Book 2 opens two days later. Now after a successful first show, Anya turns her attention to the troupe's second show. But trouble rears its head almost immediately when their beloved barn venue is jeopardized. How can they put on a production without a theater? Is the second show doomed before they ever start rehearsal? This series is closely based on the real-life experience of Anya Wallach, who began a summer theater "camp" in her parents' basement when she was just sixteen years old.

Reality, what a concept. Is life a puppet show and are we nothing but puppets? A hidden world all about us, angels and demons, or is what we can touch and sense all there is? And now, the Simulation Hypothesis plagues us. Could we really be living in a computer simulation? Through the ages, the conundrum of Reality has messed with the collective consciousness of humanity. The Allegory of Plato's Cave down through the ages to The Matrix. A chance meeting in the park leads two strangers to discover strange connections between themselves and the world, and in truth both had felt that perhaps there was something not quite right with the world, something different. They have both noticed improbable coincidences popping up in their lives, at an almost alarming regularity, and now, meeting, they witness strange signs in the heavens, and find themselves on a bizarre path that will make them question their very reality, and the reality of the world about them, and the universe itself.

A guided tour of America from coast to coast, with many stops along the way. For example, you look in on a man trying to live up to his father’s heroic image, only to find it’s based on an illusion. And meet a teacher bringing out the best in a student who has been written off by other teachers. You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a racial brouhaha and have to come to the rescue. Best part is, you can zig zag around the country at your leisure without having to worry about catching a plane.