Jane Eyre
-
- £1.49
Publisher Description
Published in October 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell, Jane Eyre was Charlotte Bronte’s first and most successful novel. The plot follows the fortunes of the eponymous lead character as she grows into adulthood, meets the man she falls in love with, loses him and then finds him once again. While those bare bones are conventional enough, the way Jane’s fortunes are internalised to give words to her feelings as all this unfolds is not.
In diverting the attentions from the plot towards Jane’s reactions to it, the novel follows the bildungsroman genre also used by Charlotte’s sister Anne in her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It is thought that Jane represents the kind of austere, moralising protestant women prevalent in the town near to Haworth and it’s interesting that the narrative records just as much reactions to this character as lessons drawn from it. Equally, however, Jane makes efforts to separate her morals from a strict religious orthodoxy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Whether one treasures this classic piece of literature as an old companion or has no acquaintance with it at all, the listener is in for a treat. Reader Bentinck draws us at once into the trials assailing the orphaned and ill-treated 10-year-old Jane. Bentinck's soft voice, flawless rhythms, and cultured British accent are exactly what's needed to guide listeners through this heroine's wild history of tribulations and jubilations. She portrays men, women, and children of different classes quite convincingly, and illuminates a wide range of nuanced emotions as Jane encounters hunger and cruelty as well as tender friendships at school, then a world of anger, fear, defeat, humor, sarcasm, affection, and exaltation as teacher and governess. The remarkable plot, the carefully delineated characters, and Bentinck's acting facility make the journey an intriguing and memorable experience.
