Book 1: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

If you are planning to read this book, please skip the following summary. (Contains spoilers). 

Jane Eyre, an orphan, lives with her abusive aunt, Sarah Reed, and her mean-soirited cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana, at Gateshead Hall.

She is sent away to the Lowood School where the conditions are very harsh. Jane befriends an fellow student, Helen Burns, and Miss Temple, a teacher. When Helen Burns dies, and Miss Temple marries, Jane decides to leave Lowood, and secures a job as a governess at Thornfield.

At Thornfiels, Jane's duties are to teach the master's foster child Adele Varens. Although he has a brusque manner, Jane finds the master, Edward Fairfax Rochester, attractive and fascinating.

One night, Jane is awakened by strange noises. Seeing smoke coming from Mr. Rochester's room, she runs in and throws water on the fire, awakening him. He leads Jane to believe that it is Grace Poole, a servant who caused the damage.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rochester apparently pursues Blanche Ingram, a local beauty, while Jane's love for him continues to grow.

Jane leaves Thornfield to visit the dying Mrs. Reed, who tells her that JohnEyre, her father's brother, is trying to contact her.

Original book written by Charlotte Brontë

When Jane returns to Thornfield, Mr. Rochester switches his affections from Blanche to Jane,and proposes marriage. The wedding ceremony is interrupted by Mr. Briggs, who claims that Mr. Rochester is already married. The mad Berthe Rochester, who is locked away on the third floor of Thorn fiel, is exposed to Jane. Jane flees, and receives an inheritance from her uncle, John Eyre. St. John Rivers proposes marriage to Jane, but she declines since she still has Mr. Rochester on her mind.

Jane returns to Thornfield and discovers it has burned to the ground. It seems that Bertha Rochester set the fire and died in it, while Mr. Rochester suffered a mangled hand that has to be amputated and has been left blind. Jane reunites with Mr. Rochester at Ferndean, his current home, and they marry. Ten years pass, and Jane tells us how contented she is with married life, Mr. Rochester has regained partial vision in one eye, and they have a newborn son.

Charlotte Brontë

Thoughts about the book:

This novel is one of my all-time favourites, as it has romance combined with drama and a bit of tragedy, which makes it interesting to read and makes us want more of it chapter after chapter. I also think that it tries to show the cruelty and pain someone can have in their lives, all caused by society and almost always overcome by the person's effort and spirit of going ahead no matter what. Definitely, Jane Eyre is a book that you should all read.

This book had been made a motion picture in 2011 starring Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre and Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester.

Watch the trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8PLpXvhtlc

Thanks to: http://www.enotes.com/topics/jane-eyre