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This book was recommended to me by a friend a few months ago. Knowing it was a satirical take on Jane Eyre, I was totally interested. But, as I’m sure you know, my TBR list is huge, so the chances of my ever getting around to this one seemed low.
Then one Sunday morning I was walking my dog and ended up at my parents’ house. I mostly let Bobbi choose where we go on our walks, so when we ended up a few blocks away from my parents’ house, I decided we should just head over and say hi. We ended up spending the day there, which was great, except for the fact that, since I hadn’t planned on spending the day away from home, I hadn’t brought my purse, much less a book *gasp!*
Fortunately, much like my own home, my parents’ house is never short on books. I happened to remember my mom had a copy of this one by Lyndsay Faye and picked it up. Once I did, it was hard to put down again. It’s a quick read that’s highly engaging and just made me want to read more.
Let me start by saying I love the original Jane Eyre, but it’s been years since I’ve read it. Fortunately, I had recently watched a BBC adaptation that my mom had recommended to me, and I was glad I had because Jane Steele contains numerous references to the original and I would have missed a lot of them without that recent refresher.
In Steele’s case, she never knew her father, but she remembers her mother, who died when Jane was about 9. Although they had been living on Jane’s aunt’s property, and her aunt does hate her, Jane and her mother had a separate cottage on the grounds where they lived apart from the rest of the family, making it more bearable. They also had their own housekeeper who actually likes Jane, so she doesn’t grow up totally despised.
After Jane’s mother dies, her aunt wants to send Jane away to a boarding school. Of course Jane doesn’t want to go, but then her 13-year-old cousin attacks her in the woods, she fights him off and he falls into a ravine, which kills him. No one else knows about the fight, so they all assume he fell on his own and Jane doesn’t correct anyone, but she does agree to go off to the boarding school, which is even worse than the one described in Jane Eyre.
The headmaster starves his pupils and turns them against each other for a chance to win a meal. When Jane’s best friend, who goes by the last name of Clarke, accuses the headmaster of committing a sin (of which he’s quite guilty) he decides to starve her to death. When Jane confronts him, he gives her a choice of saving her friend and ending in an asylum or staying and letting her friend die. Jane refuses both options and instead stabs him in the neck with his own letter opener and makes a quick getaway with her friend.
They head off to London, where nothing goes smoothly, but they manage to eek out a living. Unfortunately, when Clarke realizes Jane’s the one who killed the headmaster, she leaves and Jane is left to fend for herself.
Fast forward a few years and she notices her aunt has died and the property (called Highgate House, which Jane had always been told by her mother was rightfully hers) has changed owners and the new owner is looking for a governess. Jane has the qualifications, if not the experience, so she forges references and gets the job. I love that her new employer’s name is Charles Thornfield.
Thornfield has a lot in common with Rochester, but he’s also very different. He was born and raised in Lahore, educated in England, and spent some more time in Lahore before returning to England to claim his inheritance, along with his ward (whose name is Sahjara and she is half English and half Punjabi) and an entire Sikh staff who all came with him from Lahore.
As in Jane Eyre, Thornfield is attracted to Jane because she’s not like other women. The big difference here is Jane had ulterior motives for taking the job, but she has to find out her legal status in secret before she can confront Thornfield about Highgate House. She is also understandably hesitant to confess the fact that she has, by this time, murdered four different people. In the mean time, of course, Jane and Thornfield fall in love, and Jane also learns to love Sahjara and other members of the staff.
By the time everything is revealed and Thornfield accepts Jane for who she is, I was truly satisfied. Yes she has taken human lives, but they were all despicable people who were hurting or were going to hurt Jane and/or her friends. The first was an accident, the second a crime of passion, meaning only the last two were premeditated. She murders a fifth at Highgate House, but that was self defense. No damsels in distress here!
I also loved the theme of names having importance throughout this book. All the Punjabi names mean something and they all seem perfectly appropriate for the people who bear them. I appreciate that this theme continues for Jane, who goes by the pseudonym of Jane Stone while working at Highgate House. Both Stone and Steele conjure up images of things that are hard, strong, and difficult to move, all of which I think apply to Jane. Even when it turns out her legal name is actually Fortier, it’s worth noting that the word means “fortress” or “stronghold” in French.
Overall I loved this book. There were only a couple historical mistakes and a number of run-on sentences that an editor should have caught, but none of it detracted from the fact that I fully enjoyed this book!
What did you guys read this week? Any other fun takes on a classic?