Jane Eyre

Published in 1847, this novel is the first-person history of Jane Eyre, an orphan passed from a hostile aunt to the harsh charity school at Lowood and then to a post as governess at Thornfield Hall. There she teaches a French ward and is drawn to the abrupt master, Edward Rochester, while a secret in the house produces laughter, fire, and interrupted ceremony. Jane's need for work, equality, and a moral independence runs against dependence on a man who is not free to offer an ordinary marriage. The book is a governess novel and a gothic household mystery: a study of class, feeling, and conscience in provincial England.

Bound in green moire silk, gilt title to spine. Plain green slipcase.