6 YA Books That’ll Make Brontë Fans Swoon

My Plain Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton
The goal of the Lady Janies series is to give the Jane at the center of each novel the storied ending she deserves. Here we find Jane Eyre, of course, a teacher at the Lowood School about to head off to life as a governess. Her best friend, though? That depends on how you look at it: it’s either young Charlotte Brontë, herself a Lowood pupil, or the ghost of Helen Burns. Yes, in this story, the supernatural is very, very real, and that fact gives its authors opportunities to rewrite Jane’s fate.

Worlds of Ink and Shadow, by Lena Coakley
Throughout their childhoods, the Brontë siblings created expansive fictional worlds—long before the fruits of their imaginations ever stalked the moors outside Thornfield Hall, Wuthering Heights, or Wildfell Hall. In Coakley’s hands, the line between those fictional worlds and reality blurs, allowing the teenaged authors to escape their lonely lives at their father’s parsonage through being literally transporting to the lands they create. But there’s a price to pay for their trips to Verdopolis and Gondal, one they must weigh before it’s too late to return to their real lives.

The Glass Town Game, by Catherynne M. Valente
Those imaginary worlds are what Valente explores, too, in this charming romp that skews toward middle grade but will please Brontë fans of all ages. Just as Charlotte and Emily are set to return to their dreaded school, they and their brother and sister are instead whisked away to Glass Town, a topsy-turvy Wonderland of their own design. Well, it’s mostly their own design: instead of the harmless adventures they’d drawn up so many times before, actions in the real Glass Town have consequences, ones brought home as Anne and Branwell are kidnapped.

Stone Field, by Christy Lenzi
The timelessness of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights shines through in this adaptation, with Lenzi transporting the story across the pond to Missouri, on the eve of the Civil War. To almost all who know her, Cat is a wild one, more content to roam through the woods than work on her needlepoint. Her reputation only solidifies when she finds a beautiful naked man, amnesiac from fever, among her family’s crops. Cat nurses the man, whom she dubs Stonefield, back to health, and the two quickly become obsessed with each other. All Cat cares about is Stonefield, but there are forces at play that will pull her attention away.

The Madwoman Upstairs, by Catherine Lowell
Though not entirely YA, The Madwoman Upstairs and its likable, smart-alecky protagonist, Samantha Whipple, cover a lot of coming-of-age ground. After her father’s death, Samantha stands as the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family. As she begins her first semester at Oxford University, Samantha must deal not only with her grief but with the near-constant rumors of a secret hoard of Brontë belongings and treasures. Samantha’s never seen any evidence of this mystery inheritance, but the puzzles left behind by her father plague her still. Come for the Brontë intrigue, stay for the whip-smart, lightning-fast Gilmore Girls-esque banter.

Black Spring, by Alison Croggon
So you like your novels Gothic, huh? Black Spring takes the dark elements of Wuthering Heights and amplifies them with a setting awash in wizardry and blood. At the center of this tale are Lina and Damek, utterly devoted to each other. They’re wealthy and privileged, but Lina has one highly visible mark against her: the violet eyes that denote a witch. The power inside her, along with her insatiable obsession with Damek, have the trappings of a tragedy in the making. This story has all the tumult of the original, but with compelling twists of magic that only heighten the drama.