Charlotte made it the model for the charity school Lowood, which figures so prominently in the life of her heroine Jane Eyre. They made tiny books containing stories, plays, histories, and poetry written by their imagined heros and heroines. For Emily, it seems that the fantastic adventures in imaginary Gondal coexisted on almost an equal level of importance and reality with the lonely and mundane world of household chores and walks on the moor. One would be mistaken, however, to conclude that the poetic beauty of Gondal was essentially different from that which Emily saw in the world around her. This becomes clear in her novel Wuthering Heights , in which her familiar Yorkshire surroundings become the setting for a tragedy whose passion and beauty is equal to anything that could be imagined elsewhere.
Passion is in no way inconsistent with empty moors, cold winters, and brown hills.
In 1835, at the age of seventeen she went to school at Roe Head where Charlotte was teaching, but became so pale and thin that her sister was convinced she would die unless she returned home. She could not adapt to playing the role of a genteel Victorian lady, or deal with the intrusion of strangers into her life she could never fit in. Emily never made any close friends outside of her family circle. In 1845 Charlotte came across Emily's Gondal poems and read them, which made Emily furious when she found out. However, the discovery led to the publication of a volume of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne's poetry under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.