Published: March 22, 2016
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Standalone
Pages: 416 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 5.0/5.0
Synopsis:
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.
Jane Steele is not my normal genre, but it sounded like so much awesomeness that I just couldn’t resist. This is essentially a re-telling of Jane Eyre, but our Jane is a murderer and she’s quite the fan of the original Jane Eyre story. This is written as almost a memoir style, in that Jane speaks to the reader on occasion to make commentary. I loved the style, and while I can’t compare it to the original (haven’t read it) I can say that this is fabulously entertaining and addicting book. I couldn’t bear to pause it!
This book follows Jane from a very young age up until approximately her mid-twenties. Her younger years are spent at the family home with her mother until tragedy strikes and she goes away to school. We spend quite some time going through Jane’s formative years at a nightmarish boarding school where she forms a tight friendship with one of her classmates. Tragedy (or should I say Jane?) strikes again and Jane and Clarke flee to London to start anew. After many years in London, Jane sees an ad for a governess position at her former home and she returns with the idea of claiming her inheritance. Turns out it’s being inhabited by a fantastic group of people that she quickly becomes a part of. Charles Thornfield, his young spritely charge, and his Sikh compatriots were so instantly likable and full of mysteries!
This whole book is great, but I did have my favorite parts. Of course I intensely disliked Jane’s school years, but it was entirely because of the environment and the tyrannical creep overseeing the school girls. I loved the last portion where Jane returns to her home and meets Charles Thornfield. Heck, I was practically swooning over him too! He had such a fascinating backstory and fortunately, his secrets didn’t include a mad wife locked in a tower. Jane was at her very best during this portion of the book and I loved every page of it!!!
Overall, I thought this was a fantastic book and a great homage to the original Jane Eyre story it was inspired by. While I haven’t read the book, I’ve seen multiple adaptations that I enjoyed and were apparently pretty true to the story line. I definitely want to re-watch the BBC version to see the parallels and just enjoy the whole experience again. If you’re looking for some great historical fiction, I would highly recommend this, particularly the audio version. The narration really made it!
Powder & Page 
I remember when this came out a couple of years ago that it sounded really good. I think I read Jane Eyre, but its been years!
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