Jane Eyre: The Original 1847 Edition With Illustrations (A Classic Illustrated Novel of Charlotte Brontë)

Lovely book. I admire Jane. She has great inner strength in spite of how she is treated. I own this book

Bennett Bertolli

A book I've read several times over the years and have gone through various different thoughts about it, ranging from boredom to total enjoyment.[return][return]Jane is an unloved child. Left orphaned at a young age, she is sent to stay with her aunt and cousins. Her aunt (by marriage) is a weak woman, who dotes on her wild and willful son, barely tolerates her daughters and hates her niece. As soon as she can, Jane is packed off to Lowood, a "christian" school, that it turn neglets the physical care of it's pupils int he belief it's looking after their souls.[return][return]After a fatal bout of TB hits the school - and Jane's best friend is killed - the school is investigated and turned around. Jane stays there first as a pupil and then as a teacher until she gets the nerve to leave.[return][return]She gets a job looking after the "ward" of a Mr Rochester who is infrequently seen. When he does arrive, he is a moody soul, prone to bouts of silence and uneven temprement.[return][return]However, he soon persuades Jane to marry him, and it's on their wedding day that she learns the truth about both Mr Rochester and the secrets that have been kept in the house.[return][return]She escapes before the marriage can be completed, and by luck ends up at the steps of a brother and two sisters who take her in. As coincidence should have it, they are distant relations. She is made another marriage offer, but does not take it up, as she realises that he does not love her and only wants a companion to treat as a sister on his missionary [return]trip.[return][return]Jane finds out that she has inherited some money from another uncle (her aunt previously announcing that Jane had died). She shares her money with her cousins, preventing the girls from having to go into service, but not preventing the man from going abroad.[return][return]One evening she is woken by a dream, where she thinks Rochester has called for her. She returns to find that the place has been burnt, Rochester has been left blind and in need of help. She marries him and slowly his eyesight begins to return.

Loved her writing, though can come off a little pretentious and haughty. My biggest gripe is the emphasis on God.

One of my favorites. I reread it every year after first reading it in high school.