Ferdinand forbids his widowed sister to marry again. When he discovers that she is not only married but had a child he is driven mad with fury. The Duchess of Malfi is a study in strong characters, dark deeds and dreadful revenge. This edition includes close textual analysis, notes on different interpretations, interviews with actors and directors and a selection of critical scenes.

'Do you like the truth? It is well for you. Adhere to that preference - never swerve thence.' - Charlotte Bronte, 'Shirley' The Jenkins family knew the Brontes in Brussels and West Yorkshire. Eager to learn about them, their descendant read the Bronte biographies, and discovered that no one had researched this family, and, worse, that what was written was fabricated, with one biographer copying another, embroidering, even making up dialogue. Yet Mrs Gaskell had deliberately sought out Mrs Jenkins when researching her famous Life of Charlotte. If it had not been for Mrs Jenkins, Charlotte would never have gone to Brussels, never met M. Heger. There would be no 'Villette', no 'Jane Eyre'. This book purges the lies and identifies one of Charlotte's characters for the first time. It reveals a thrumming wire that connects Byron to Trollope to Henry James, and gives further evidence of the adultery of William Wordsworth's eldest son. Above all, it gives a radical new perspective on the inspiration for Charlotte's novels and those vital two years she spent in Brussels.

In August 1914, thirteen-year-old Amy was trapped on the Belgian seacoast as war was declared with Germany, alone with her younger brothers. British, resilient and feisty, she got back to occupied Brussels and began her war diaries. Amy knew Nurse Cavell and Ada Bodart, members of the secret network to get Allied soldiers across the frontier. She writes of zeppelins, food shortages, constant gunfire and spies. She confronts a 'sneering' German who demands to know where her brother is: 'I could have shot him, ' she comments. Then it all changes: in 1917 her mother attacks her and Amy is moved to a Catholic boarding school nearby. Constantly in trouble for being disruptive, answering back, whistling, laughing in church and climbing onto roofs 'for fun', she longs for the love and approval of her teacher - and her estranged mother.