Book Review

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

As an ardent fan of Jane Eyre, I have read many literary adaptations of her story. I’ve read about a vampire slayer Janes (Jane Slayre) and Jane in space (Jenna Starborn) and Jane in the 1950s (The Flight of Gemma Hardy) and many more, and I’m usually disappointed. Jane Steele, however, was just about the most viciously satisfying thing in the history of ever. NB: book titles in this review are italicized while names are not.

Jane Steele is not a direct retelling of Jane Eyre. It’s the story of a Victorian woman, Jane Steele, who reads Jane Eyre and is inspired to write her own autobiography. Their lives are not exactly the same but they share many parallels – both wind up as orphans with cruel aunts, both attended wretched boarding schools, and both work as governesses for brooding, mysterious men with whom they fall madly in love. Unlike Jane Eyre, however, Jane Steele has just as many secrets as her employer does, including but not limited to the fact that Jane Steele has killed several people.

I am desperate not to reveal spoilers in this review, which is simply torture, for I long to spill EVERYTHING, especially a speech on page 326 that had me IN TEARS. Suffice to say that if Jane Steele is a bad person, then so am I, because every time she killed someone I cheered and did a happy dance. Seldom have I been so thoroughly thrilled and delighted by murder. Readers should be advised that the book does include description of and discussion about sexual and physical abuse, especially in the first section of the book.

In the original Jane Eyre, the first third of the book, which tells of Jane’s childhood, is not super exciting despite the fact that includes a haunting, rampant child abuse, and the rapid accumulation of young corpses at Jane’s horrible boarding school. The story doesn’t pick up until Jane goes to Thornfield (as an adult) and meets Mr. Rochester. Jane Steele was somewhat the inverse of that. I found the first part of the book (conveniently labelled “Volume One”) to be the most engrossing, although the rest of the book was also fantastic. Young Jane Eyre is scolded constantly for being wild and savage, and young Jane Steele is better at hiding her wildness than Jane Eyre, but also much better at cultivating it – she uses her childhood experiences and her young adult years to learn to lie, steal, sneak, and, on occasion, murder.

Jane Steele is not a sociopath – she is capable of feeling great love and empathy, although she is very bad at expressing it because she finds herself unworthy and thinks that her sexual feelings are shameful (she is bisexual). But Jane Steele is ruthless and pragmatic. She is capable of acting in a deadly manner both instinctively in moments of great peril and deliberately when she believes that offing someone will protect others.

Once Jane Eyre gets to Thornfield Hall, she has learned to confine her defiant speeches to the page (for the most part) and to keep to her own business while she tries her very hardest to appear demure and proper. Similarly, Jane Steele appears to be, if not proper, then at least not actively criminal while in the employ of Charles Thornfield, her brooding and handsome employer. I found this frustrating, as I liked my Jane Steele in all her criminal glory, but again it helped highlight a theme of the original Jane Eyre – both governesses are in disguise (Jane Eyre is disguising her true thoughts and feelings, and Jane Steele is disguising her very identity).

Jane Steele proves to be a much more affectionate and loving governess than Jane Eyre, and lacks Jane Eyre’s xenophobia. Her charge, and most of the people in the house, are Sikhs from India, who have arrived at the estate along with Sir Charles Thornfield. Charles, who fought in the Anglo-Sikh Wars that raged in the 1840s, grew up in India and is deeply attached to his Indian companions. While much of Charles’ story is melodramatic and outlandish (as fits a gothic romance), the presence of so many Indians in the house is completely historically plausible and gives a much-welcomed note of accurate inclusion to counter the racism in the original Jane Eyre.

Jane Steele finds herself in the middle of multiple mysteries. Can she reclaim her inheritance? Why isn’t she allowed to go into the cellar? Why won’t Charles take off his gloves? Why doesn’t the child she is hired to care for remember her past? What’s the deal with missing jewels and also with a creepy dude who shows up at the estate? Jane Steele points out that while she is fond of the character Jane Eyre, said character is a rotten detective. Jane Steele is not.

My measure for whether an adaptation succeeds or fails has nothing to do with the fidelity of the adaptation to the setting or other details of the original. Heck, one of my favorite adaptations of Pride and Prejudice is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which involves a modern-day graduate student and her vlog. I care about whether the adaptation succeeds in highlighting the themes of the original work, and Jane Steele does a marvelous job with this. Like Jane Eyre, Jane Steele feels herself to be sinful, unworthy, and unlovable. Yet, like Jane Eyre, Jane Steele believes that her life has value, and she fights to keep it from being wasted . The triumph of the story in Jane Eyre is not that Jane Eyre finds true love – it’s that Jane Eyre finds true love on her terms. The triumph of Jane Steele is that Jane Steele finds the ability to forgive herself and love herself, which makes it possible for her to accept love from others. It’s not a direct parallel to Jane Eyre, yet clearly Jane Steele sees in Jane Eyre a model of how to hold oneself as worthy when the rest of the world claims that you are not.

This book is bloodthirsty and exciting. It’s hard-boiled and tender. It’s funny and full of gothic melodrama. I enjoyed every bit of it. Above all, I loved that Jane Steele, who in most ways resembles me not a whit, shares with me a deep affection for Jane Eyre and a sense that Jane Eyre inspires us to value our own lives and our own stories. I’m giving this book an A- instead of an A+ only because once Jane meets Charles the story gets full of perhaps a bit too much melodrama for its own good.

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Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

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  1. Dammit, my TBR is already long enough! So much Althea catnip.

    Oddly, I found the first third of Jane Eyre to be my favorite part. I loved watching young Jane stand up for herself, which being both female and a child she is not at all “supposed” to do.

  2. Kim W says:

    This sounds good and my library has it with a pretty short wait list so I’m excited!

  3. Kristen says:

    I just read this book and LOOOOOOOOOVED IT!

  4. Aaargh! My TBR shelves are already overflowing, but I love Jane Eyre homage books. *Sigh* Added to the list.

  5. kkw says:

    I’m giving this book an A- instead of an A+ only because once Jane meets Charles the story gets full of perhaps a bit too much melodrama for its own good.

    This is the criticism that ensures I’ll read this book.

  6. Hazel says:

    Thank you, Carrie. I have no doubt this was a thoughtful and well-written review. However, I didn’t get past your third paragraph; “every time she killed someone I cheered and did a happy dance”.

    I just went and ordered it.

    🙂

    PS
    Jane Eyre was my heroine. I read it first at about age 9 and the over and over again until well into my twenties. Homicide can only enhance it.

  7. Caspian says:

    Library has 8 copies. I’m #23 on the hold queue. Great review!

  8. Carolyn says:

    I read the sample and despite the price, Reader, I bought it. 🙂

    Thank you, Carrie.

  9. Lori says:

    I was hooked on this book from “Reader, I murdered him.” I came for the “Jane Eyre as a serial killer” hook (which isn’t really all that accurate a description in the end) and just fell in love with the ways in which the elements of Jane Eyre were mixed up into this new and wonderful story. I loved the inclusiveness and the harsh realities that were historically likely. I did not expect to get teary-eyed with this book but it gave me all the feels.

  10. Malin says:

    The audio book is also really recommended. I got it at Audible after rave reviews in a few other places and did not regret it.

  11. Kate says:

    I LOVED THIS. I thought it’d be cheesy and kinda fun, but it was just solidly awesome!

  12. Lauren says:

    SOLD!I’m going to have to read this one. Great review!

  13. Molly B says:

    This book is awesome and I would never have known it existed without this review. Thank you!!!

  14. Susan/DC says:

    Late to the party but just read this and totally second Carrie’s review. The author acknowledges that the book is OTT in a very Victorian way, both in language and action, which is part of the fun. It should be emphasized that Jane is not a serial killer. She does not like knowing that she is capable of murder, but she is unafraid to kill to defend herself or others, unlike many Romance heroines who can’t shoot the gun even when the villain is about to toss her off a cliff if she does not.

    I think I know the passage on page 326 that Carrie refers to (can’t check because I returned the book to the library). If it is, it involves Sam Quillfeather, who definitely should be listed as one of the heroes of the book.

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