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.
Jane Steele is told in the form of Jane’s confession, talking directly to you, the reader. It starts with her early childhood, living in her family home, moving through boarding school – then running away from said boarding school – living on the streets of London, and lastly eking out a life penning last confessions; all the while leaving corpses of those who’ve wronged her in her wake. She eventually makes her way back to her family home when it falls into the hands of Mr. Charles Thornfield.
I was half and half with the novel when it first started. I couldn’t decide if I liked the story or not, and I had no idea where it was going. Truthfully, all I knew when I picked it up was that it was an historical fiction, similar to Jane Eyre, and it was really, really popular. The opening chapters gave me pause, those of you who’ve read it may know why, but I pushed on, and I’m very glad I did. Once she got to boarding school all bets were off.
I have not read Jane Eyre, but I have seen film adaptations and I know the premise, so Jane Steele was definitely and interesting take, especially with the murderous twist. Faye doesn’t disappoint and leads the reader down a twisting path. I’m pretty sure one of my updates on Goodreads was, “I have no idea where this is going.” Hahahaha but that didn’t dissuade me, and it shouldn’t you! I had to know how the story ended! The story began to pick up in pace and became more intricate. Once Jane meets Mr. Thornfield, even more layers are added to the mystery surrounding them and I was beyond hooked. Faye does a great job of character building. I was thoroughly creeped out by Headmaster Munt, I felt for Mr. Sadar Singh and what happened to his country, and I wanted to know what would happen between Jane and Mr. Thornfield. Jane is a strong woman and is not one to be reckoned with.
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