Originally published in 1931, "The Brontës Went to Woolworths" by Rachel Ferguson (died 1957) is a whimsical and slightly surreal novel about the Carne family, a widow and her three daughters living in 1930s London. The book is noted for its blending of reality with a vivid, shared family fantasy life. The three sisters-Deirdre (a journalist), Katrine (an aspiring actress), and Sheil (the youngest)-and their mother inhabit a "bubble" of elaborate games. They have ongoing sagas involving talking dolls and "imaginary friends" based on real people they have never met. A major part of their fantasy life revolves around Sir Herbert Toddington, a High Court judge they call "Toddy". They invent detailed lives for him and his wife, Lady Mildred, as if they are close family friends. The story shifts when Deirdre actually meets Lady Mildred at a charity bazaar. The family must then navigate the awkward and often funny gap between their complex imaginings and the real people. Later in the book, the whimsy takes a darker, spookier turn when the sisters' fantasy life interacts with the supernatural, including a seance and the appearance of the "ghostly" Brontë sisters...