When 13 year old Charlotte Brontë poured over the illustrated annual

of 1829, her attention must have been caught by the exotic story of “The Castilian Captive; or, The Pacha Perplexed” (Gérin, 1967, 44). The title is tantalizing enough to provoke an inquiry, which becomes the more interesting when one realises that the author was little older than the reader, a 14 year-old whose name was signified only by her initials, A S. (

1829, 402-14).

Literary annuals and gift books are today recognised for the information they can sometimes provide on the early works of well known nineteenth-century writers. They also reveal a quantity of material by minor writers such as Anna Savage, the author of The Castilian Captive , whose works appeared

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Citation: Blaize, Eslyn. "The Castilian Captive". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 August 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=26979, accessed 25 November 2024.]