High Life in Verdopolis was written by Charlotte Bronte at the age of seventeen, when she was immersed in Gothic literature and fascinated by Byron and his affairs. It is a delightful romance, woven around the principal characters in her imaginary African kingdoms of Glass Town and Angria. The hero Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Zamorna and young king of Angria, is presented as an eastern potentate, surrounded by his seraglio and laden with all the trappings of Byron's Childe Harold. This new edition, the first separate publication of the story, includes Charlotte Bronte's own illustrations, all exquisitely drawn in watercolour, pencil and ink. The Bronte scholar Christine Alexander provides an informative introduction, relating the story to its Angrian context and drawing attention to the Bronte's preoccupations of the time.