MY PLAIN JANE

Mysteries abound on the moors—and not all of them are of this world.

When Charlotte Brontë’s best friend, Jane Eyre, is offered a job with the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits, Charlotte is dismayed that Jane takes a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall instead. So Charlotte decides that she’s the right person for the job, even if she can’t see ghosts like Jane can. Nevertheless, she persists, joining her brother and his mentor, Alexander Blackwood, in serving the Society by trying to recruit Jane. Jane, however, has fallen in love with her employer and has no interest in leaving. A domino line of events follows the two white women and friends as they find love, work, ghosts, and strengths they never suspected. Hand, Ashton, and Meadows (My Lady Jane, 2016) offer up a fantastical, tongue-in-cheek plot that manages to both poke fun at and hold in high esteem the novel that provided the inspiration. A healthy dose of feminism and logic offers a contemporary perspective, often through the character of a ghost named Helen who isn’t afraid to call out Rochester’s patriarchal absurdities—even though most people can’t hear her. A passing familiarity with Jane Eyreis beneficial but not necessary for enjoying this book. Reader, it delighted.

A fun, supernatural mashup of different literary novels that shines on its own merit.