Roving Eye
Book Review
Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Reviewed by Zuha Asif Siddiqui

Jane Eyre first appeared in public in 1847. It became extremely popular and was widely read and reviewed. In fact, in the late 1850s Jane Eyre was the talk of the town in England. The poignant tale of anger, rage, defiance and overpowering longing that Jane goes through beginning from her childhood till womanhood has captured the hearts of many generations. From the early scenes in the book, where Jane defies her mean cousin, John Reed, we witness the bundle of complicated feelings that Jane goes through as a little girl: the hatred, the anxiety the fear and the desire to run away, is simply mesmerising.

After that, we follow Jane as she is sent to a harsh boarding school called Lowood. We see how she eventually gets used to the cruel life that she is subjected to. After spending almost a decade at Lowood, Jane once more begins another journey, this time as a young governess, to a magnificent mansion called Thornfield to take care of a little girl called Adele. There she meets the master of Thornfield Edward Rochester, and later on falls in love with him.

Circumstances, however, separate the two and Jane is compelled to leave Thornfield. To find out more about this twist in the tale that makes Jane leave Thornfield and her subsequent trials and finally the…

Well, we cannot divulge more than we already have, so go and grab a copy from your nearest thalaywala for not more than 50 bucks and enjoy the theme of tragedy with a dash of romance and thrill that makes Jane Eyre a timeless classic and a book that you simply cannot stop reading once you've begun it.

Charlotte at a glance

- Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816, and had four sisters and a brother. The family lived in Haworth.

- Her sister Emily was also a poet and became famous for her only novel Wuthering Heights.

- Charlotte briefly attended the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge in 1824.

- In 1825 Maria and Elizabeth, the two eldest daughters, became ill, left the school and died: Charlotte and Emily were brought home.

- Charlotte, Emily, Branwell, and Ann, playing with a box of wooden soldiers, conceived of and began to write in great detail about an imaginary world which they called Angria.

In 1831 Charlotte became a pupil at the school at Roe Head and left it in 1838.

- For some time, she worked as a governess.

In 1842 Charlotte and Emily went to Brussels to complete their studies. Charlotte remained in Brussels, until 1844.

- Charlotte discovered Emily's poems, and decided to publish a selection of the poems of all three sisters:

- 1846 brought the publication of their poems, written under the pseudonym of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Charlotte also completed The Professor, which was rejected for publication.

- In 1847, Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Ann's Agnes Grey were all published, still under the Bell pseudonyms.

- In 1848 Charlotte and Ann revealed the true identities of the "Bells". In the same year Branwell Brontë, by now an alcoholic and a drug addict, died, and Emily died shortly thereafter. Ann died the following year.

- The Rev. A. B. Nicholls, curate of Haworth proposed marriage to Charlotte in 1852. Mr. Brontë objected violently, and Charlotte, refused him. Nicholls left Haworth the following year.

- In the same year Charlotte's Villette was published.

- By 1854, Mr. Brontë's opposition to the proposed marriage had weakened, and Charlotte and Nicholls became engaged. Nicholls returned as curate at Haworth, and they were married.

- In 1854 Charlotte, expecting a child, caught pneumonia, and after a lengthy and painful illness, she died.