'Reader, I murdered him.' JANE STEELE is a brilliant Gothic retelling of JANE EYRE from Edgar-nominated Lyndsay Faye, for fans of LONGBOURN and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES. 'I loved it' - Elly Griffiths.
Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors.
A fugitive navigating London's underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate's true heir, Jane takes the position and is soon caught up in the household's strange spell. When she falls in love with the mysterious Charles Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him - body, soul and secrets - and what if he discovers her murderous past?
*Opinions*
This book has been sitting in my “to read” list on Goodreads for a couple of years easily, so when the next books in the series I am currently binging didn’t show up on time, I figured it was time to give it a try. Jane Steele is set in a universe where Jane Eyre is a novel and our main character, Jane Steele, reflects on her life is similar and different from her favorite literary character. Given that setup, it is not hard to guess some of the beats of the novel, but Jane Steele is a very different character than the sometimes meek Jane Eyre and how she faces a world that is not gentle or caring for anyone, but especially young women. Now it had been a while since I’ve read Jane Eyre, and it took me a while to truly enjoy the literary classic, but I believe Jane Steele is a retelling that masterfully pulls on the reader’s memories of the classic, for better or worse, while weaving a story that is truly its own.
As I mentioned above, I don’t remember the finer details of Jane Eyre as it’s been a couple of years since I’ve read it. That being said, much like the source material, I found the time at the school to drag a little pace-wise, but it is important to understanding both Janes. When Jane got back to Highgate House I had a hard time putting the book down, but it took me a good couple of days to get to that point. Still, this retelling really dives into the darker areas of England during this time period, of the schools, girls were forced into, and the English interests abroad. Jane Eyre does not make the world seem easy for young women without means by any means, but Jane Steele delves into the dirt and darkness because she believes she belongs there and that gives the reader a look into the lives of women we don’t see in Jane Eyre.
As for English interest abroad, the novel does not pull any punches in regards to the East Indian Trading Company and what they did in India, though this novel was focused on Punjab. The information about Sikhism and those that follow that religion was enlightening and I’m happy that Faye included reference books to look into the history of the region and religion further. That being said, so many novels of the time (that I’ve read) completely ignore what is happening in India and what the British presence, either as the East India Trading Company, military, or missionaries is rarely addressed. Faye had the benefit of hindsight and no concern of dealing with being accused of treason, but I found Jane Steele’s London more well-rounded and real than Jane Eyre’s, even with all its ugliness.
I love how Faye handles Jane’s character arc and what it says about how childhood events and traumas shape how we see ourselves. If Jane hadn’t felt as if she killed Edwin (who deserved it and would have been a beast of a person like Jane Eyre’s cousin ended up being) then she would have never run to Lowan Bridge School and none of the other deaths would have followed. Jane believed herself wicked due to how those around her treated her so wicked she became. While it is easy to excuse all of Jane’s murders, as Mr. Thornfield does in the end, it is clear to see why Jane has such a low opinion of herself but also why she trust her out abilities, maybe too much confidence in her own abilities. When someone reframes her childhood and her relationship with Clarke, it changes everything about the Jane way sees herself. Obviously, it doesn’t absolve all her sins, but it makes her feel as if she is worth something and that can change a lot about the way someone moves through the world.
The secondary characters are also vibrant and well-rounded. From the enigmatic new residents of Highgate House to the girls that suffered in Lowan Bridge School and even Jane’s mother and Agatha. No matter how much page time they received, every character felt real and that they had a life outside of their interaction with Jane. The villains are horrible but in ways that make sense and the heroic characters are far from perfect. Mr. Thornfield has his own trauma to deal with, but that makes him a good fit for a romantic partner as Jane’s whole life has been made up of traumas. It is a match that makes much more sense than Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester honestly. There is also the representation of non-straight and non-white characters, in a positive light, which is always nice to see in a historical novel. While it took me a while to become invested in the novel and Jane’s story, much like Jane Eyre, I came to love just about everything about the book. I will probably pick up a physical copy at some point just so I can reread it because I admit that I read through the last couple of chapters so quickly because I was anxious about what would happen next. It’s been a long time since that happened.
Jane Steele is a four-and-a-half-star book that I am rounding up to a five-star. The half star was the slow start and the distance between Jane and the reader at the start, which I know emulates the original text but I wasn’t a fan of it there either. While I expected Jane to be a little more wicked, I truly enjoyed my time with this novel.
I do still find it funny that the byronic hero love interest in Jane Steele, the dark and gritty murder AU of Jane Eyre, is so much more sympathetic than the classic version. He just feels guilty for something that wasn’t really his fault, whereas Rochester doesn’t feel guilty enough for something that mostly was his fault.
