This is the only single-volume edition available of an unjustly neglected novella by the author of Jane Eyre. An ingenious and highly imaginative early novella, Charlotte Bronte's The Spell is a remarkable tale of love and jealousy, rivalry and thwarted ambition, and a testimony to Bronte's craft as a writer. When the infant Marquis of Almeida is pronounced dead, the kingdoms of Wellingtonsland and Angria are deprived of their heir. Anxious to secure the nations' future security, King Zamorna's advisers entreat him to name his successor - and when Zamorna himself succumbs to a mysterious and life-threatening sickness, the need becomes more crucial still. Yet Zamorna remains strangely unperturbed. Confusion turns to political intrigue as those closest to him wonder exactly what it is he knows, and who, precisely, are the mysterious characters that surround him. 'This book was ...never truly intended for 'Readers' per se. It was only ever meant for friends. And so you should find it as a friend and treat it just as indulgently and just as fondly.' - from the Foreword by Nicola Barker