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Jane Eyre (Step into Classics) Paperback – June 17, 1997

by Jane E. Gerver (Adapter), Charlotte Bronte (Author)

4.6 17,128 ratings

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Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre, leads a lonely life until she finds a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls at night. What is the sinister secret that threatens Jane and her new found happiness? Step into Classics(TM) adaptations feature easy-to-read texts, big type, and short chapters that are ideal for reluctant readers and kids not yet ready to tackle original classics.

Reading age

6 - 9 years
Print length

112 pages
Language

English
Grade level

1 - 4
Lexile measure

540L
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.32 x 7.5 inches
Publisher

Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication date

June 17, 1997
ISBN-10

0679886184
ISBN-13

978-0679886181
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"At the end we are steeped through and through with the genius, the vehemence, the indignation of Charlotte Brontë."
--Virginia Woolf

From the Inside Flap

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre, leads a lonely life until she finds a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls at night. What is the sinister secret that threatens Jane and her new found happiness? Step into Classics(TM) adaptations feature easy-to-read texts, big type, and short chapters that are ideal for reluctant readers and kids not yet ready to tackle original classics.

From the Back Cover

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre, leads a lonely life until she finds a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls at night. What is the sinister secret that threatens Jane and her new found happiness? "Step into Classics(TM) adaptations feature easy-to-read texts, big type, and short chapters that are ideal for reluctant readers and kids not yet ready to tackle original classics.

About the Author

Diane Johnson is the author of many books, including the bestselling novel Le Divorce, which was a 1997 National Book Award finalist, and Le Mariage.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question.

I was glad of it; I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mamma in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group, saying, "She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance; but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner--something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were--she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy little children."

"What does Bessie say I have done?" I asked.

"Jane, I don't like cavillers or questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent."

A small breakfast-room adjoined the drawing-room, I slipped in there. It contained a bookcase; I soon possessed myself of a volume, taking care that it should be one stored with pictures. I mounted into the window-seat: gathering up my feet, I sat crosslegged, like a Turk; and, having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement.

Folds of scarlet drapery shut in my view to the right hand; to the left were the clear panes of glass, protecting, but not separating me from the drear November day. At intervals, while turning over the leaves in my book, I studied the aspect of that winter afternoon. Afar, it offered a pale blank of mist and cloud; near, a scene of wet lawn and storm-beat shrub, with ceaseless rain sweeping away wildly before a long and lamentable blast.

I returned to my book--Bewick's History of British Birds: the letterpress thereof I cared little for, generally speaking; and yet there were certain introductory pages that, child as I was, I could not pass quite as a blank. They were those which treat of the haunts of sea-fowl; of "the solitary rocks and promontories" by them only inhabited; of the coast of Norway, studded with isles from its southern extremity, the Lindeness, or Naze, to the North Cape--

Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls,

Boils round the naked, melancholy isles

Of farthest Thule; and the Atlantic surge

Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.

Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the bleak shores of Lapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland, with "the vast sweep of the Arctic Zone, and those forlorn regions of dreary space--that reservoir of frost and snow, where firm fields of ice, the accumulation of centuries of winters, glazed in Alpine heights above heights, surround the pole, and concentre the multiplied rigours of extreme cold." Of these death-white realms I formed an idea of my own: shadowy, like all the half-comprehended notions that float dim through children's brains, but strangely impressive. The words in these introductory pages connected themselves with the succeeding vignettes, and gave significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray; to the broken boat stranded on a desolate coast; to the cold and ghastly moon glancing through bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking.

I cannot tell what sentiment haunted the quite solitary churchyard, with its inscribed headstone; its gate, its two trees, its low horizon, girdled by a broken wall, and its newly risen crescent, attesting the hour of eventide.

The two ships becalmed on a torpid sea, I believed to be marine phantoms.

The fiend pinning down the thief's pack behind him, I passed over quickly: it was an object of terror.

So was the black, horned thing seated aloof on a rock, surveying a distant crowd surrounding a gallows.

Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting: as interesting as the tales Bessie sometimes narrated on winter evenings, when she chanced to be in good humour; and when, having brought her ironing-table to the nursery-hearth, she allowed us to sit about it, and while she got up Mrs. Reed's lace frills, and crimped her nightcap borders, fed our eager attention with passages of love and adventure taken from old fairy tales and older ballads; or (as at a later period I discovered) from the pages of Pamela, and Henry, Earl of Moreland.

With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy: happy at least in my way. I feared nothing but interruption, and that came too soon. The breakfast-room door was opened.

"Boh! Madam Mope!" cried the voice of John Reed; then he paused: he found the room apparently empty.

"Where the dickens is she?" he continued. "Lizzy! Georgy! (calling to his sisters) Jane is not here: tell mamma she is run out into the rain--bad animal!"

"It is well I drew the curtain," thought I, and I wished fervently he might not discover my hiding-place: nor would John Reed have found it out himself; he was not quick either of vision or conception; but Eliza just put her head in at the door, and said at once: "She is in the window-seat, to be sure, Jack."

And I came out immediately, for I trembled at the idea of being dragged forth by the said Jack.

"What do you want?" I asked with awkward diffidence.

"Say, 'what do you want, Master Reed,' " was the answer. "I want you to come here"; and seating himself in an arm-chair, he intimated by a gesture that I was to approach and stand before him.

John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four years older than I, for I was but ten; large and stout for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large extremities. He gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye with flabby cheeks. He ought now to have been at school; but his mamma had taken him home for a month or two, "on account of his delicate health." Mr. Miles, the master, affirmed that he would do very well if he had fewer cakes and sweetmeats sent him from home; but the mother's heart turned from an opinion so harsh, and inclined rather to the more refined idea that John's sallowness was owing to over-application, and, perhaps, to pining after home.

John had not much affection for his mother and sisters, and an antipathy to me. He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in a day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near. There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror he inspired, because I had no appeal whatever against either his menaces or his inflictions; the servants did not like to offend their young master by taking my part against him, and Mrs. Reed was blind and deaf on the subject: she never saw him strike or heard him abuse me, though he did both now and then in her very presence; more frequently, however, behind her back.

Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair: he spent some three minutes in thrusting out his tongue at me as far as he could without damaging the roots: I knew he would soon strike, and while dreading the blow, I mused on the disgusting and ugly appearance of him who would presently deal it. I wonder if he read that notion in my face; for, all at once, without speaking, he struck suddenly and strongly. I tottered, and on regaining my equilibrium retired back a step or two from his chair.

"That is for your impudence in answering mamma a while since," said he, "and for your sneaking way of getting behind curtains, and for the look you had in your eyes two minutes since, you rat!"

Accustomed to John Reed's abuse, I never had an idea of replying to it: my care was how to endure the blow which would certainly follow the insult.

"What were you doing behind the curtain?" he asked.

"I was reading."

"Show the book."

I returned to the window and fetched it thence.

"You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mamma says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma's expense. Now, I'll teach you to rummage my bookshelves: for they are mine; all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. Go and stand by the door, out of the way of the mirror and the windows."

I did so, not at first aware what was his intention; but when I saw him lift and poise the book and stand in act to hurl it, I instinctively started aside with a cry of alarm: not soon enough, however; the volume was flung, it hit me, and I fell, striking my head against the door and cutting it. The cut bled, the pain was sharp: my terror had passed its climax; other feelings succeeded.

"Wicked and cruel boy!" I said. "You are like a murderer--you are like a slave-driver--you are like the Roman emperors!"

I had read Goldsmith's History of Rome, and had formed my opinion of Nero, Caligula, &c. Also I had drawn parallels in silence, which I never thought thus to have declared aloud.

"What! what!" he cried. "Did she say that to me? Did you hear her, Eliza and Georgiana? Won't I tell mamma? but first--"

He ran headlong at me: I felt him grasp my hair and my shoulder: he had closed with a desperate thing. I really saw in him a tyrant: a murderer. I felt a drop or two of blood from my head trickle down my neck, and was sensible of somewhat pungent suffering: these sensations for the time predominated over fear, and I received him in frantic sort. I don't very well know what I did with my hands, but he called me "Rat! rat!" and bellowed out aloud. Aid was near him: Eliza and Georgiana had run for Mrs. Reed, who was gone upstairs; she now came upon the scene, followed by Bessie and her maid Abbot. We were parted: I heard the words--

"Dear! dear! What a fury to fly at Master John!"

"Did ever anybody see such a picture of passion!"

Then Mrs. Reed subjoined: "Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there." Four hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.

Chapter Two

I resisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me. The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself, as the French would say. I was conscious that a moment's mutiny had already rendered me liable to strange penalties, and, like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths.

"Hold her arms, Miss Abbot: she's like a mad cat."

"For shame, for shame!" cried the lady's-maid. "What shocking conduct, Miss Eyre, to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress's son! Your young master."

"Master! How is he my master? Am I a servant?"

"No; you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep. There, sit down, and think over your wickedness."

They had got me by this time into the apartment indicated by Mrs. Reed, and had thrust me upon a stool: my impulse was to rise from it like a spring; their two pair of hands arrested me instantly.

"If you don't sit still, you must be tied down," said Bessie. "Miss Abbot, lend me your garters; she would break mine directly."

Miss Abbot turned to divest a stout leg of the necessary ligature. This preparation for bonds, and the additional ignominy it inferred, took a little of the excitement out of me.

"Don't take them off," I cried; "I will not stir."

In guarantee whereof, I attached myself to my seat by my hands.

"Mind you don't," said Bessie; and when she had ascertained that I was really subsiding, she loosened her hold of me; then she and Miss Abbot stood with folded arms, looking darkly and doubtfully on my face, as incredulous of my sanity.

"She never did so before," at last said Bessie, turning to the Abigail.

"But it was always in her," was the reply. "I've told missis often my opinion about the child, and missis agreed with me. She's an underhand little thing: I never saw a girl of her age with so much cover."

Bessie answered not; but ere long, addressing me, she said:

"You ought to be aware, miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off you would have to go to the poorhouse."

I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague singsong in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible. Miss Abbot joined in:

"And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed, because missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will have a great deal of money and you will have none: it is your place to be humble, and to try to make yourself agreeable to them."

"What we tell you is for your good," added Bessie, in no harsh voice: "you should try to be useful and pleasant, then, perhaps, you would have a home here; but if you become passionate and rude, missis will send you away, I am sure."

"Besides," said Miss Abbot, "God will punish her: He might strike her dead in the midst of her tantrums, and then where would she go? Come, Bessie, we will leave her: I wouldn't have her heart for anything. Say your prayers, Miss Eyre, when you are by yourself; for if you don't repent, something bad might be permitted to come down the chimney and fetch you away."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Books for Young Readers; 5th or later Edition. (June 17, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679886184
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679886181
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 6 - 9 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 540L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 1 - 4
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.32 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,029,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8,959 in Children's Chapter Books (Books)
- #10,559 in Children's Classics

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Charlotte Bronte
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Charlotte Brontë was born at Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third child of Patrick and Maria Brontë. Her father was perpetual curate of Haworth, Yorkshire from 1820 until his death in 1861. Her mother died in 1821, leaving five daughters and a son. Charlotte was employed as a teacher from 1835 to 1838, was subsequently a governess, and in 1842 went with her sister Emily to study languages in Brussels, where during 1843 she again worked as a teacher. Charlotte’s first novel, The Professor, was rejected by several publishers and was not published until 1857. Jane Eyre was published in 1847 and achieved immediate success. In 1848 Branwell Brontë died, as did Emily before the end of the same year, and Anne in the following summer, so that Charlotte alone survived of the six children. Charlotte married in 1854 the Revd A. B Nicholls, her father’s curate, but died in March 1855.
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Lindsay W

Critique of Jane Eyre

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2010

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Jane Eyre is written by Charlotte Bronte, who is a famous female novelist in England during nineteen century. This is also the first famous book she wrote. The book was written in Sheffield, England which is also the hometown of Charlotte. A lot of people consider this book Charlotte's autobiography. That's not exactly true but we still can find many personal experiences of Charlotte's in that book. The entire book's theme shows the values that humans should always live with dignity and love.
The book tells a story about a woman named Jane Eyre. Jane was born in a very poor churchman's family and her parents died of enterotyphus when she was very young. She had to live in her uncle's family. Her aunt was a very mean and snobbish woman. She used a lot of ways to abuse Jane and even taught her child to bully Jane. Jane lived there for ten years, but she never yielded to her aunt so her aunt just treated her worse and worse. After Jane's uncle died, her aunt sent her to an orphanage. Although the life in the orphanage was still hard, and children there could not get enough food and the teachers treat them very curly, Jane got her first friend in the orphanage, a girl named Helen. Helen gave Jane much comfort and support but this happiness for her did not last too long; Helen also died by enterotyphus. After that the orphanage improved. Jane studied there for six years and taught there for two more years. Then she left the orphanage and was hired by the steward of Thornfield Hall as a tutor. Thornfiled was a big manor owned by Edward Fairfax Rochester. The life in Thornfield was good and after a long time Mr. Rochester spent with Jane, he was deeply attracted by Jane's dignified character. Jane also fell in love with Mr. Rochester. Before their marriage, bad news come, Jane was told that Mr. Rochester was already married and his violently insane wife was locked in Thornfield Hall. Jane could not bear this shock and left Thronfiled manor. Her life truned harder after she left Thornfield. After a few months later, a clergyman named St. John took Jane in and gave her a job teaching at a local school. One day, Jane got a large amount of money as inheritance from her dead uncle, which her aunt had been keeping from her, Jane also learned from her aunt that St. John is her cousin. At this time St. John asks Jane to marry him and go to India to do missionary work. Jane refused him and realized she was still in love with Mr. Rochester so she decided to go back to him. When she came back to Thornfield Hall, it had already become a ruin. She was told that after she left, the insane woman set a fire in Thornfild Hall, and died during the fire. Mr. Rochester also was hurt during the fire. When Jane returned to him, he was not rich anymore and had become a poor disabled man. But Jane did not care about this at all; she found Mr. Rochester and married him.
I strongly recommend Jane Eyre. This novel is very engaging. The plot of the novel is continuous and changes a lot. Every girl should read this book because it teaches you how to be an independent woman with dignity. There are so many characteristics of Jane's that are very valuable in today's society.
When I first connected with Jane Eyre, I was a fairytale age girl. Strange thing was when my mother read the novel for me; I was fell in love with it very soon. The story was interesting and I was always curious about what's happen next. Little Jane's poor experiences and her brave impressed me deeply. Those contents really motivated me a strong sense of compassion which is really important for every child in their growth. I still remember when I knew that Jane was locked in a dark room by her aunt. I felt so worry about her and after her recovered form that disaster, I felt so happy for her. That's definitely a good lecture for me that how to share the same feeling with a friend. Little Jane also taught me that no matter how bad thing you experience, you should keep your heart pure and dignity, and always fight against unfair rules until you get the freedom. One more important thing I learned from the book is grasp every opportunity to study. Jane read a lot of book during she lived under her aunt abuse, she learned so much in the orphanage. The difference between Jane and others is she never gives up study or the process to enrich her inner world no matter how terrible the outside environment is. She successfully transfers her miserable live to her tenacious soul. All of these made her a thoughtful woman, and that also the reason for Mr. Rochester is attracted by Jane.
The second time I read Jane Eyre was during my high school. At that period I was very depressed due to a heavy course load and a sharp competition. In an unexpected chance, I decided read Jane Eyre again. From I opened the book; I could not drop it any more. I finished it in three days. During I read the book, I felt so peaceful and calm. That's exactly what I needed for that period and I had lost this feeling for a long time. Beside my spiritual enjoyment, the book also gives me a strong influence on my value system. Until now, I still strongly believe that true love should build on the respect of each other. That's what Jane Eyre told me. This time I have a deeper understanding on the relationship between Jane Eyre and Edward Fairfax Rochester. At the beginning, Edward is a rich, strong and talented upper class man. But the real of him is a lonely heart, until he met Jane. A lot of women approach him in order of him money, but Jane is totally different. She did not care about him money or his social statue, she care about him just because she loves Edward and she really wants to comfort him from his painful experiences. Edward also loves Jane and appreciates her. He respects Jane and views her as his true friend in soul, he likes to talk with Jane and share his feeling with her. Their love is deep and stable. The ending of the story is not perfect but it's the best ending for Jane. She needn't choose from her love or her majesty. She obtains both of them. In the end, Edward became an old and poor blind man, but Jane still married with him. The only thing changed is they love each other deeper. This ending emphasizes Jane's characteristics as well as the substance of the book, which is the wroth of live should be respect and love.
The negative part of Jane Eyre is the writer strength too much on Jane's insistence and independence. But in real world, things may much more complexes and cannot be overcome just by insistence and independence. However, I still believe Jane's characteristics will always shining in all times. Another negative echo for Jane Eyre is the book is not profundity enough. It only tells a story about a woman's life and her love experience, it did not tell enough about the time-background or the class contradiction. But I think that's just the reason that Jane Eyre do not bring too much heaviness to reader but the enjoyable feeling.
All in all, I love the novel Jane Eyre. I believe everyone should read it; because it likes a cup of ice water, simple and clean, purify every reader's sprite.

17 people found this helpful

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MDW

Loved it!

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024

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Another great classic. You can never go wrong with a classic. The storyline was spot on. The characters were fantastic. The ending was sweet.

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Beth Quinn Barnard

While not fatal, the flaws are serious enough to prevent Jane Eyre from being a true masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2012

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** spoiler alert ** After my extreme disappointment with Shirley, I returned to Jane Eyre, which I first read as a 'tween and from time to time afterwards would dip back into the romantic bits no St. John!) to finally read it again cover-to-cover. In this novel, Bronte writes like a pro, opening the story with a conflict that immediately engages her readers' interest in Jane and quickly follows up with another that firmly cements that affection. When the evil Rev. Brocklehurst asks Jane what she must do to avoid the eternal torture of hell, she replies, "I must keep in good health, and not die," and her immortality as a literary character is secured. One strength of this novel is the first-person narration with everything seen through Jane's eyes. Although we know her to be a passionate individual, she is also absolutely trustworthy,and the generous and smart woman she becomes plays no games in telling her tale in simple, straightforward narration. We burn with indignation at Aunt Reed and Rev. Brocklehurst, grieve over Helen, share her growing affection for Sophie and Mrs. Fairfax, and rejoice in her discovery that in Rochester she has at last found someone who is her intellectual and emotional equal, the first true friend since leaving Lowood School. In short, in the first two-thirds of Jane Eyre, Bronte's work is close to a masterpiece. However, her story goes off the rails in the St. John Rivers section, the part of the book that many readers dislike and the section most film adaptions do their best to diminish or eliminate. In earlier readings, Jane's decision to flee Thornfield with a few shillings and a small bundle of clothes made perfect sense, and her subsequent discovery that the Rivers siblings were actually family -- her first cousins -- adequate explanation for her decision to share equally with them the fortune left to Jane by their uncle in Madeira. But on this reading I saw how unnecessary, how unJane-like, her flight actually is. Jane has already learned from her Aunt Reed that her uncle intends to leave her his fortune, and it is that uncle who sends his solicitor to crash her wedding and prevent her bogus marriage to Rochester. The solicitor explains exactly that before leaving Thornfield. Above all else, Jane Eyre is smart and capable, smart enough to recognize that her uncle's solicitor will provide her with necessary support and capable enough to get herself to London to receive it. However, a few hours later, Bronte sends Jane rushing across the moors in a coach heading god knows where, a destination that will be determined by how far her meager money can pay for transport. Is this the young woman who ably advertised for a post when she wanted a new life? Is this the young woman who traveled to her aunt's deathbed and remained long enough to help her hateful cousins settle their affairs following their mother's death? Absolutely not. While Jane's flight makes sense, her decision to flee blindly to parts unknown is ludicrous, given everything else we know about her. And so the results of that flight -- her fortuitous discovery of her cousins and the jousting with priggish St. John over his desire to have her join him in his missionary work as his wife -- are ludicrous as well. No wonder readers recoil from that section of the book. Having written Jane out of character and into a tight corner with Rivers, Bronte comes to her rescue with a hokey gimmick -- the sound of Rochester's voice calling her name across the vast moors that divide them. Jane's dear readers are certainly happy that she has found a loving family and secured an income that provides independence. And they're happy that Rochester has proven himself a man of honor in sacrificing his vision and his hand in attempting to save his mad wife from the burning battlements of Thornfield Hall. So they forgive Bronte the flaws of the St. John Rivers section of the novel, glossing over it as quickly as possible to arrive at Jane's well-deserved happy ending. But while not fatal, the flaws are serious enough to prevent Jane Eyre from being a true masterpiece.

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Barbara S. Mustain

A classic in great condition.

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024

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Book described as "good" condition. Except for a musty smell ( which I am airing out) the cover and pages were in fine condition for an 80 year old book. I remember these books of my father ( Eichenberg illustrated Wuthering Heights as well) from my childhood. I went on to discover Eichenberg in art history, later met an artist who had studied under him at Pratt and had two of his prints (done for the Catholic Worker) given me as a gift. His CW prints are beautiful and no longer available. Feel like this was an investment as well as a trip in memory lane.

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Katja H. Labonté

Simply Beautiful

Reviewed in Canada on May 16, 2022

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5+ stars & 9/10 hearts. I LOVED this book. Wow. I did not expect to love it so much! I read it several times as a kid and was profoundly impacted by the setting and storyline. Rereading it as an adult, I was impacted by the themes, messages, and characters.

Jane Eyre is often seen as a dark book. I, instead, found it very beautiful and hopeful. I loved Jane. She was so wise and strong and loving. Really, she became one of my favourite female characters ever. Her story is so sad and yet it is hopeful too. I would love to be a Jane—so willing to help, so eager to love, so strong in trial, so full of faith. The way she combats suicide and depression, grief and pain, pressure and cruelty to live the life she knows God wants for her, is wonderfully inspiring.

Mr. Rochester was another character I loved. I related to his weakness and his desire to do good but his lack of willingness to try to be good. After all, he had a good heart. He could have done any number of things to the woman he was chained with and yet he did do her the best he could—as he thought. I loved seeing his redemption arc so much. And as a man, he was just a very entertaining, fascinating, interesting person….

St. John I strongly disliked. What a hypocritical, supercilious Pharisee. He was a “good” man and yet he was not a good man. He was certain that he and he alone was right. He even tried to play God with Jane. If she had obeyed him, she would have killed herself (no use at all to the Lord) and have run right by her true calling. And he was cruel and harsh to her—while pretending to be as merciful and long-suffering as Christ Jesus. I couldn’t stand St. John. Yet his sisters were lovely!

The plot was fascinating. Twisty and unexpected all the way to the end, and so varied—from the luxurious but abusive Reed home to Lowood, first cold and cruel, then warm and nurturing; from Thornfield Hall, so dark and gloomy, haunted by a sinister secret, yet blossoming with love and happiness; to the moors, stern and beautiful, and the little village, simple and hearty… and then, the ending place—damp, lonely, and full of human joy. The messages are wonderful—so many reminders about the seriousness of marriage; about not putting up idols in your heart instead of God; about being yourself but in a holy, temperate way; about true charity, about the foolishness of ranks and caste; about the meaning of true love… While there is sadness and ugliness presented in this book, and Brontë does not shy away from portraying sin (see content list below), everything was well handled and was only used to make redemption and Light stand out. The writing style is simply brilliant and the humour excellent; the other characters are all so alive and varied and interesting; the setting is fascinating and so well detailed… it’s a simply beautiful book with a really beautiful message.

Content: drinking; smoking; kissing, touching, hugging, between Jane & Mr. R. before engagement; Mr. R. had many mistresses & an illegitimate child; he tries to get Jane to live with him without being married; attempted bigamy; some language; some theology I don’t necessarily agree with. Recommended age: 18+

A Favourite Quote: “I hold another creed … in which I delight, and to which I cling: for it extends hope to all: it makes Eternity a rest—a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last: with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low: I live in calm, looking to the end.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “I saw the fascination of the locality. I felt the consecration of its loneliness: my eye feasted on the outline of swell and sweep—on the wild colouring communicated to ridge and dell by moss, by heath-bell, by flower-sprinkled turf, by brilliant bracken, and mellow granite crag. These details were just to me what they were to them—so many pure and sweet sources of pleasure. The strong blast and the soft breeze; the rough and the halcyon day; the hours of sunrise and sunset; the moonlight and the clouded night, developed for me, in these regions, the same attraction as for them—wound round my faculties the same spell that entranced theirs.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘What age were you when you went to Lowood?’
“‘About ten.’
“‘And you stayed there eight years: you are now, then, eighteen?’
“I assented.
“‘Arithmetic, you see, is useful; without its aid, I should hardly have been able to guess your age.’”

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Joseph Kreuwels

alles gut

Reviewed in Germany on March 21, 2024

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alles gut

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Sachin sharma

Excellent book

Reviewed in India on March 8, 2024

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Must read book, cannot ommit this wonderful classic novel full of human feelings and emotions and the presence of an omnipotent power which we call God.

Alessia

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Reviewed in Italy on September 22, 2023

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Funinreading

Beautiful edition.

Reviewed in Sweden on December 22, 2022

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I love this series in comfortable and decorative flexibound! The quality of the paper and the font is just right for me, too. Very happy with my purchase!

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