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.
About the Author
Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Haworth, Yorkshire. Her father, a minister, enforced strict, often cruel discipline. But when Charlotte's mother died in 1821, the Bronte children were left mostly to themselves, and Charlotte became an omnivorous reader. In 1835 she became a teacher and later a private governess. In 1846 she published a joint volume of verse by herself and her sisters Emily and Anne under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, which sold only two copies. Undaunted, Charlotte completed THE PROFESSOR, and a kind note from one publisher encouraged her to finish JANE EYRE, her most famous work (1847). In 1848 tragedy struck - her brother Branwell died in September, Emily in December, and Anne the following May. Though depressed, Charlotte persevered and wrote SHIRLEY (1849) and VILLETTE (1852). Charlotte Bronte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate, in 1854 - a man she had once derided heartily. Lonely, still grief-stricken over the loss of her sisters, and beset by ill health, she died in March 1855.
Industry Reviews
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
