Charlotte Brontë drinks Rhubarilla

Another novel with Brontë references recently published is Intoxicated : A Novel of Money, Madness, and the Invention of the World's Favorite Soft Drink. The book is written by John Barlow and published by William Morrow & Co.

Part fable and part vaudeville, this history of the fictional Rhubarilla, "one of the most popular carbonated soft drinks in the world," begins in 1860s England, when Rodrigo Vermilion, a flamboyant hunchback midget, meets businessman Isaac Brookes on a train bound for Yorkshire. An entrepreneur, storyteller and huckster, Rodrigo seizes on the recent trend toward temperance and convinces Isaac, who is rich, to invest in a nonalcoholic pick-me-up elixir with an "un-put-your-finger-uponable" taste. When they hit upon the magic combination of rhubarb and coca leaf, Rhubarilla is born, with the name courtesy of Isaac's 16-year-old son, George. At the same time, Isaac's beloved wife, Sarah, is dying, and his other son Tom believes Rodrigo a fraud. Violent breakdowns and recriminations push the venture—and the family—to the edge of ruin, but forgiveness, persistence and an aggressive advertising campaign put Rhubarilla on the way to its destiny. (from Publishers Weekly)


"Ellen," said Horsefall, leaning over towards his daughter and nodding, as if to reassure her, "why don't you ask Aunt Sarah now? I'm sure she will not mind."
All eyes fell to cousin Ellen, who in vain tried to conceal her annoyance.
"It was," she said, with some difficulty, faltering more out of frustration than shyness, "it was nothing really. Just that, that I am a great admirer of Charlotte Brontë".
Sarah seemed amused at this and pulled herself up in her chair. It was a familiar topic.
"Was she," Ellen continued, "a very timid person?"
"Timid?" said Sarah, at a whisper, but with the tautness of a of a smile spreading across the depleted flesh of her face.
"Yes, I ... would ... say so."
"Like a mouse!" said Isaac.
"Hush, Isaac," Sarah said. "You only met her once."
"I didn't know this!" cried William Horsefall, interrupting. "A bookish type, after all, Isaac! Fraternizing with lady novelists!" (pag 81)

But there's more:

The Brookes boys filed rather too eagerly out of the parlor, followed by cousin Ellen, off to explore the literary land- marks of Gomersal. These landmarks can be found in Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley, about the Luddites, which is set in the village, and in which two of its principal houses are described in such detail that the real buildings are easily recognizable to anyone who has read the book. The great lady was long associated with the area, being good friends with the Taylors of Red House, and also with Ellen Nussey, a member of the impoverished lower gentry who lived not half a mile from Moor- lands. Sarah Brookes had occasionally shared the company of the young Miss Brontë, although this was years ago, even before Char- lotte had ventured into print as a man. So Sarah had not really known a great novelist at all, but only a fearfully fearfully shy, plain-looking clergyman's daughter with no position, no money, and a thoroughly dull life on a windswept hilltop somewhere out beyond Bradford; on the single occasion that the future novelist had visited Moorlands, Isaac was on his (...)

And there's more but you will have to read the book in order to know it :)

Categories: Books, Charlotte_Brontë, Shirley