Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

With its rigid class structure and strict mores, Victorian England offered few opportunities for a young woman of modest means. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontё draws on dramatic events from her own life to create a memorable and chilling tale of one woman’s life-long quest for security, respectability, and love.

     Following the death of her uncle, who had been her guardian, Jane Eyre is treated cruelly by her resentful adoptive family. After she faints while locked in the room in which her uncle died, Jane is sent to the Lowood School, where students are treated like criminals and barely fed. Jane’s best friend succumbs to consumption and there is an outbreak of typhus.

     Reforms instituted after the epidemic help Jane mature into a confident and well-educated young woman. When she leaves to become a governess at Thornfield Manor, she falls in love with Rochester, her pupil’s guardian, and the future looks bright. But a series of eerie and terrifying events threatens to destroy her hopes.

     Featuring gripping plot twists and surprises, as well as a powerful appeal for educational reform, Jane Eyre offers rich insight into the life of a woman who, despite oppression, tragedy, and precarious circumstances, insists on making the most of the hand that was dealt her.