Destitute young woman leaves rotten boarding school for job as governess in sprawling mansion, falls in love with broodingly handsome employer with dark secret. In the twenty-first century, the plot of Jane Eyre might sound clichéd, yet Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, about a plain orphan girl exceeding her lot in life through righteousness and strong will tempered by desire, was and remains a true original. In a very real way Jane Eyre made available to readers modes of feeling that had never been articulated quite so tellingly before. As only the most powerful stories can, it seems to invent through expression the emotional truths it explores.
One of my favourite books growing up, and I've read it repeatedly over the years. There is also a lot of great literary criticism on this novel. This is a formative book for my reading life.
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