Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre was first published in 1847 as the early work of an unknown author under the pen name Currel Bell. Charlotte Brontë’s first novel revolutionised the art of fiction with social modernism and an intensity that was by the time only known from poetry.

The story is set in the north of England, during the reign of George III (1760-1820). It depicts the development of Jane Eyre. Orphaned as a baby, Jane struggles through her loveless childhood and becomes governess to the young ward of Edward Fairfax Rochester, the Byronic and attractive master of Thornfield Hall.

Trying to find a way between libertinage and bigotry, she realises that without the means to be an independent woman, she is bound to either struggle through life trying to make a living or become dependent on a man.

We do not hesitate to say that the tone of mind and thought which has overthrown authority and violated every code human and divine abroad, and fostered Chartism and rebellion at home, is the same which has also written Jane Eyre. -Elizabeth Rigby, The Quarterly Review, 1848.