Jane Eyre

Description

Jane Eyre is the inspiring heroine of one of the best-loved British novels of all time Jane Eyre is the inspiring heroine of one of the best-loved British novels of all time. As an orphan, Jane's childhood is not an easy one but her independence and strength of character keep her going through the miseries inflicted by cruel relatives and a brutal school. However, her biggest challenge is yet to come. Taking a job as a governess in a house full of secrets, for a passionate man she grows more and more attracted to, ultimately forces Jane to call on all her resources in order to hold on to her beliefs.

Charlotte Bronte was born on 21 April 1816. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire and her mother died when she was five years old, leaving five daughters and one son. In 1824 Charlotte, Maria, Elizabeth, and Emily were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen's daughters, where Maria and Elizabeth both caught tuberculosis and died. The children were taught at home from this point on and together they created vivid fantasy worlds which they explored in their writing. Charlotte worked as a teacher from 1835 to 1838 and then as a governess. In 1846, along with Emily and Anne, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. After this Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, Anne wrote Agnes Grey and Charlotte wrote The Professor. Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey were both published but Charlotte's novel was initially rejected. In 1847 Jane Eyre became her first published novel and met with immediate success. Between 1848 and 1849 Charlotte lost her remaining siblings- Emily, Branwell and Anne. She published Shirley in 1849, Villette in 1853 and in 1854 she married the Revd. Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died the next year, on 31 March 1855.

Never fails to reconnect me to the spirit of real romance... Timeless story... Every page throbs with passion. * Saga Magazine * After all these years, it's the emotions we most respond to in Jane Eyre... This is also a novel about intellectual growth, written by a fiercely intelligent writer... She has a formidable brain as well as a strongly beating heart, and so it will still seem another 100 years from now. -- Sam Jordison * Guardian * Wonderful, teasing... That her great novel of wish-fulfilment is still widely devoured is the supreme happy ending. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Spectator * Marred only by the fact that Charlotte clearly liked Mr Rochester too much; but we can forgive her that. Often given to schoolchildren to read, but you have to be a grown-up to really get it. One of the most perfectly structured novels of all time -- Sarah Waters At the end we are steeped through and through with the genius, the vehemence, the indignation of Charlotte Bronte -- Virginia Woolf