by Charlotte Brontë
Genre: Gothic fiction, bildungsroman
First Published 1847
Bantam Classics Edition 2003
Number of Pages (this edition): 493
Setting: England, early to mid 1800s
Storyline: One of my all-time favorite novels follows its spirited title character throughout different stages of her life. From a cruel, oppressive childhood as an unwelcome resident of her aunt and cousins home, Jane is sent to Lowood School for an education, and experiences privations in the name of charity as well as finding new role models. Later on she takes a post as governess at Thornfield Hall, where she finds a place in the small household and eventually falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester. In a dramatic turn of events testing her morals and resilience, Jane flees Thornfield and finds shelter and a second family with St. John Rivers and his two sisters. During her long absence Jane learns of a reversal of her fortunes that prompts her to return to Thornfield and Mr. Rochester.
Themes: Love at odds with autonomy, gender relations, criticism of social hierarchy and the status quo, morality, passion, feminism
Read-a-likes:
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Persuasion by Jane Austen
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