Jane
- ISBN-10
- 1539391027
- ISBN-13
- 9781539391029
- Series
- Jane
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-10-06
- Publisher
- Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
- Author
- Penelope C Bell
Description
Jane Eyre Meets the 21st Century This retelling of the classic Charlotte Bronte Gothic novel, Jane Eyre, includes everything you loved about the original, updated for the 21st Century. Closely following the original's plot lines and character development, Jane starts with ten year old Jane St. John, this one living in a brownstone in Brooklyn, falling afoul of her stepmother and abusive cousins, and getting shipped off to Lowood, a school for troubled girls. More like a prison than a boarding school, Lowood is where the abandoned, abused, and poor girls of New York State are left in the care of an ambitious psychiatrist who pronounces them all mentally ill and pursues a course of institutional abuse as a self-styled cure. Despite humiliations and deprivations, Jane makes friends with another resident and the two of them provide emotional support through harrowing run-ins with the headmaster, lack of food and warm clothes, and a deadly outbreak of Legionnaire's disease. Though many girls do not survive Lowood, our Jane does and eight years on is a teacher at the same school, yearning to escape dreary upstate New York and start her "real life." She applies for-and gets-a summer job as nanny for a rich family in St. Barthes. Thinking she's finally earned some good luck, Jane arrives at the island paradise ready to take up her new duties in a Gothic mansion built by Corsaires for a notorious island family. Just like in Jane Eyre, there's a prickly housekeeper, an abrasive employer, and strange noises and visitations during the night that keep the story moving along at a clip. Madwoman in the attic? This one's on the roof. There's also a romance in there someplace, but not the Cinderella variety. Jane doubts her own emotional capacity to love or trust anyone and suspects her romantic partner of lies and betrayal. Suspicions that turn out to be true. Jane explores the inner turmoil of an independent woman who is often insecure and angry with the world and her place in it. Somehow, through it all, she learns to confront her demons, both those in the old house and those she's carried along from her past, and finds a way to live with herself and forgive others. More than a modern Gothic romance, Jane is the coming-of-age story of a 21st century feminist and an engrossing read for anyone that likes Gothic romances and feminist ideas."
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Jane
By April LindnerPractical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.
-
Me . . . Jane
By Patrick McDonnellPatrick McDonnell-beloved, bestselling author-artist and creator of the Mutts syndicated comic strip--shares the inspiring story of young Jane Goodall, the legendary and inspiring conservationist featured in the hit documentary film Jane.
-
Love Song to the Demon-Possessed Pigs of Gadara
By William FargasonIn his debut collection, William Fargason inspects the pain of memory alongside the pain of the physical body. Fargason takes language to its limits to demonstrate how grief is given a voice.
-
Jane Eyre
By Charlotte BrontëOrphaned Jane is sent to work as a governess for brooding Mr. Rochester's daughter, Adele. Love begins to grow between Jane and her moody employer, but his mysterious first wife threatens to ruin their chance at happiness.
-
Re Jane: A Novel
By Patricia ParkJane Re--a half-Korean, half-American orphan--takes a position as an au pair for two Brooklyn academics and their daughter, but a brief sojourn in Seoul, where she reconnects with family, causes her to wonder if the man she loves is really ...
-
Jane, Unlimited
By Kristin CashoreAn instant New York Times bestseller—from the award-winning author of the Graceling Realm series—an ambitious novel about grief, adventure, storytelling, and finding yourself in a world of seemingly infinite choices.
-
My Ideal Bookshelf
By Thessaly La ForceThe books that we choose to keep -- let alone read -- can say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves.
-
Remarkably Jane: Notable Quotations on Jane Austen
By Jennifer AdamsStephenie Meyer, "Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' Zone," Entertainment Weekly, www.ew.com. page 94. Rudyard Kipling, "The Janeites," in Craig Raine, ed., A Choice of Kipling's Prose (London: Faber and Faber, !987)> 334- page 95.
-
Jane (10 Issues)
The National Politics Web Guide, a service of Oleg Schultz, offers a very brief biographical sketch of the Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley. She was proclaimed queen in 1553, but not crowned.
-
Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
By Jill LeporeA portrait of Benjamin Franklin's youngest sister, Jane, reveals how she was, like her brother, a passionate reader, gifted writer, and shrewd political commentator who made insightful observations about early America.