Books & Java

Jane Steele

by Lyndsay Faye

 

Synopsis:

“Reader, I murdered him.”
 
A sensitive orphan, Jane Steele suffers first at the hands of her spiteful aunt and predatory cousin, then at a grim school where she fights for her very life until escaping to London, leaving the corpses of her tormentors behind her. After years of hiding from the law while penning macabre “last confessions” of the recently hanged, Jane thrills at discovering an advertisement.  Her aunt has died and her childhood home has a new master: Mr. Charles Thornfield, who seeks a governess.
 
Burning to know whether she is in fact the rightful heir, Jane takes the position incognito, and learns that Highgate House is full of marvelously strange new residents—the fascinating but caustic Mr. Thornfield, an army doctor returned from the Sikh Wars, and the gracious Sikh butler Mr. Sardar Singh, whose history with Mr. Thornfield appears far deeper and darker than they pretend. As Jane catches ominous glimpses of the pair’s violent history and falls in love with the gruffly tragic Mr. Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him—body, soul, and secrets—without revealing her own murderous past?
 
A satirical romance about identity, guilt, goodness, and the nature of lies, by a writer who Matthew Pearl calls “superstar-caliber” and whose previous works Gillian Flynn declared “spectacular,” Jane Steele is a brilliant and deeply absorbing book inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s classic Jane Eyre.

My Review:

Wow... WOW!!! This was an AMAZING book.

The writing, the story, the dialogue, the characters. You name it! All were integral to making this possibly the best book I've read this year so far. So, if you read Jane Eyre, you know the story of poor little Jane whose most unfortunate circumstances lead her to the love of her life (not without much suffering along the way). Now, take Jane Steele, yes, she has suffered much but she does so while fighting back and avenging all who have instigated unspeakable evils by taking advantage of hers and others' circumstances in the story. Don't think her cold-blooded and ruthless, just brave and dutifully justified in her actions. I did listen to this book in audio book format and I will admit that I feel I enjoyed it more this way than actually reading the hard copy. The narration is fantastic.

I think Charlotte Bronte would have liked this homage to the great Jane Eyre. I do realize that speaking on behalf of such a great and long-gone author is bold and a bit pretentious but as I see it, I loved Jane Eyre and love Jane Steele for the richness of each of their stories. One of the unique twists in the story of Jane Steele is that she has come across the story of Jane Eyre and sees the similarities between Eyre's story and Steele's own and so she (Steele) is penning her own story in line with that of Jane Eyre's. As a matter of fact, she talks to us, the reader, as though she is sitting at our side retelling her tale. That, in my opinion was very well done and highly effective for the experience.

Now, what about the plot? You ask. 

Well, it is such an involved plot with so many "WTF" (pardon my French) moments that I dare not divulge any of it. I will not be blamed for ruining any one's experience. However, if you are looking for intrigue, mystery, history, assault, criminal investigation, war, the ruthless power of big business, treachery, deceit, longing, love and of course MURDER, then you are in for a great ride.