It Began with Jane Eyre
The Penguin Classics edition of Jane Eyre. Click to buy.
Many years ago, I wrote a blog post about my love of Jane Eyre, and how it all began with that book. (Writing and publishing my own first book, I mean. Not the universe or life as we know it.) Since my newsletter readers have requested more “Behind the Scenes” stuff, I thought that, this week, I’d update the post for my new website, and explain why a nineteenth-century novel became so important to me and to my writing career.
Jane Eyre has long been my favourite book, but we didn’t get off to the best of starts. When I was at school I remember watching an old black and white film version and thinking what a drip Jane was! Because of that experience, I didn't have any desire at all to read the book, and I carried in my head an image of the lead character being a rather dull, too-nice-for-her-own-good, simpering idiot.
It was my best friend at the time who persuaded me to give the novel a chance. She'd read it and loved it, and as I trusted her judgement in these things, I agreed to give it a go.
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will.”
I couldn't believe the difference between the book and the film. Jane Eyre was a feisty little character. I loved her strong sense of justice. I loved the way she defended herself and others who were put upon and abused. I loved the way she spoke the truth about her horrible aunt and the appalling treatment she was given. I loved her devotion and loyalty to her weak school friend, and her strength of character as she survived the awful regime at school. Most of all, I admired her courage and dignity, as she coped with a broken heart and shattered illusions, remaining true to herself and knowing her own character so well that she could walk away from Rochester and risk everything, knowing that to stay would ruin her, destroying her integrity and sense of self.
The gorgeous notebook my friend, Jessica, bought me for my birthday. Do you think she guessed I love this book?
The beautiful clothbound edition of Jane Eyre that was also a birthday gift from Jessica.
So much did I love the book that I have read it several times, always citing it, without hesitation, as my favourite novel when asked. So when, back in 2006, I heard that there was a new BBC adaptation for television, I was a bit worried. Would they ruin Jane Eyre? Would she be portrayed as weak, timid - a shadow of the character so deftly created by Charlotte Bronte?
“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
The adaptation in question was to star Ruth Wilson, then relatively unknown, and Toby Stephens as Mr Rochester. Of course I was going to watch it. How could I not? And then I discovered something even more exciting. After each episode of Jane Eyre, there was going to be a follow-on programme called Reader, I Married Him. Presented by Daisy Goodwin, the programme would be in three episodes, and the episodes had the following titles: Happily Ever After, Heroes, and Heroines.
The 2006 BBC production of Jane Eyre. Click image to buy.
Reader, I was hooked.
The Jane Eyre adaptation turned out to be the best version I’ve seen to date (in my humble opinion) and afterwards I was glued to the screen as Daisy Goodwin delved into the mysterious world of writing romantic novels. It included contributions from legendary writers such as Jilly Cooper and Marion Keyes. It was wonderful.
“I am not an angel … and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”
I had written endless stories when I was a child and teenager, but as I grew older and had children I’d stopped writing. Writing seemed like something only the very young or the very rich could do. It wasn’t for the likes of me.
Watching Reader, I Married Him, I was reminded of how much I’d loved writing, and I felt a long-buried desire starting to unfurl inside me – the desire to put pen to paper once again. Was it possible? Could I do it?
A few years later, the idea was still burning away inside my mind, but fear held me back. I had children to look after and I was studying for a degree with the Open University at the time. I didn’t have the spare time to spend writing fiction, did I? There was always an excuse if I looked hard enough.
Then I read Jane Wenham-Jones’ book, Wannabe a Writer? I followed it up with Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of?
Highly recommend this book by Jane Wenham-Jones
I suddenly realised that, yes, I did! And, finally, I was starting to believe it was all possible. That’s when I picked up the notebook in which I’d been jotting ideas down for characters for a few months and began to write. That year I signed up for NaNoWriMo, and completed the first draft of what would become There Must Be An Angel.
And the first line of There Must Be An Angel?
“Reader, I married him.”
What else could it possibly have been? 🙂
Resisting Mr Rochester - click to buy!
But Jane Eyre wasn’t quite finished with me yet. She still had another spell to cast. In 2017 I used Charlotte Bronte’s classic as the basis for my own new novel - Resisting Mr Rochester. I was scared stiff at the thought of it, but the idea also excited me. I wanted to put my own modern-day, lighthearted spin on the Jane Eyre story.
Scary it was, most definitely, but it was an awful lot of fun, too! And I will say that the Moorland Heroes series - Resisting Mr Rochester, along with Saving Mr Scrooge - are two of my favourite books and some of the ones I’m most proud of writing.
Not bad for a story that I’d initially dismissed as boring, with a heroine I’d considered a drip!
Have a great week!
