All the Jane Eyre Love

I fell in love with Jane Eyre when I was a freshman in high school. My honors English teacher gave us a list of classic literature and turned us loose in the library to choose from the list, to read and give a report to the class. Most of my classmates were rushing to find the shortest books or fighting over the ones that had more than one copy, hoping for a buddy read to cut back on work, but I examined the list and the shelves carefully, hoping to find something I hadn’t already read and would enjoy. When I found Jane, I read the back and thought the plot had possibility. I checked it out, and absolutely fell in love.

I fell in love with Jane, of course, because who could not love this lonely orphan determined to create opportunities in the midst of the hardship given to her? She was plucky, and smart, and resilient, and my heart broke for her in her loneliness and swelled for her in her joy. I cheered her integrity even as it pulled her away from the happiness I wanted her to have, and I probably read the final chapters ten times. My experience with classic literature had been things like Romeo and Juliet, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, The Red Pony, and Wuthering Heights. I hadn’t realized that it wasn’t all bleak and desperate. I didn’t know that there were strong and admirable women to be discovered in those old pages.

But I also fell in love with the setting. I love Britain, and the moody, atmospheric countryside, especially Thornfield itself. I could see so clearly Jane’s aunt’s home, and the horrible school, and Thornfield rising out of the fog. I have not read the book in years, but each place Jane was still rises vividly in my mind, the same way I saw them when I first read them.

And I fell in love with Mr. Rochester. I understand that there are big issues with him, and I didn’t like the ways he tricked Jane, and especially how he lied to her. But I felt I understood him, and his motivations, although I didn’t like the way he expressed them, felt genuine. Jane was the first pure thing he ever had, the first person he loved enough to even make him want to change, but he had made such a mess of things that he didn’t know how. Seeing how he developed his own integrity and sense of self and became more worthy of Jane melted whatever other objections I might have had. I don’t know that I would have made the decisions Jane did, but I don’t know that I wouldn’t either, and the way it played out made me truly happy for both of them.

When I saw Melodie Edwards’s book Jane & Edward being promoted on Instagram, I was hesitant at first and then excited. Edwards set this modern retelling in the confusing and uneven world of a Toronto law firm on Canada’s version of Wall Street, and her love for the original story and its characters was clear in each line and scene. Her Jane Raine and Edward Rosen were their own people, while also being true to Jane Eyre. Her story developed the characters with a modern sensibility of course, but also examined ways in which Jane and Edward’s pasts would have shaped them, which shed greater light on how and why they unintentionally hurt each other. This book made me love the new characters and the originals even more.

If you read the original, then you have a pretty good idea of how things will go down in Jane & Edward. I really loved how the feeling of reading this book was so similar to the feeling of Bronte’s, and how the events, places, and situations mirrored the original so well but also were fresh and all their own. But I really loved how reading Jane & Edward reminded me that we are all part of a bigger story than we can see, fighting the same battles that have been fought for centuries; only the details are different. What do I want out of life? How far will I go to get it? What of myself is worth sacrificing for my happiness? What are my limits?

These questions were important for me as a freshman in high school and are still important now as a married mom with kids. Considering their answers is one of the reasons I read, and read again, and read some more, and will hopefully always be reading.

Jane & Edward is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. Whether or not you’ve ever read Jane Eyre, but especially if you have, this one is a good one for your list.