A review by jmatkinson1
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
5.0
Jane Steele is a huge fan of the novel 'Jane Eyre' and in its pages she finds some form of solace from her own life. Orphaned at a young age, disliked by her aunt and harassed by her cousin, Jane is sent to Lowan Bridge School to be educated. The only problem is that Jane murdered her cousin and, after many years of torment at school she murders her headmaster and flees to London. Surviving the best way she can, Jane racks up another two murders before returning to her childhood home as a governess, and then the real adventures start!
There is genre of novel that I have a real love for and that is the Victorian pastiche, books written with a real love for the classics but with a clever and modern twist on them. It is an incredibly hard thing to do, to get the balance right and here Lyndsay Faye has done it brilliantly. Her love of the Brontes, Dickens, etc shines through, Jane Steele is the anti-Jane Eyre and a completely twentieth century heroine but the settings and plot twists are pure Victorian Gothic. There is such a joie-de-vivre about this book and loads of little in-jokes to keep the intelligent reader chuckling - Mr Thornfield (Thornfield Hall), Patience Barbary (Miss Barbary), Quillfeather (Inspector Bucket) - as well as an understanding of the Punjab and the integration of Sikhs into British society. All in all this is a wonderful book to read, I kept thinking how clever it all was and then there was another turn, plotting is tight, language authentic and characters larger than life - I'm sad I've finished it!
There is genre of novel that I have a real love for and that is the Victorian pastiche, books written with a real love for the classics but with a clever and modern twist on them. It is an incredibly hard thing to do, to get the balance right and here Lyndsay Faye has done it brilliantly. Her love of the Brontes, Dickens, etc shines through, Jane Steele is the anti-Jane Eyre and a completely twentieth century heroine but the settings and plot twists are pure Victorian Gothic. There is such a joie-de-vivre about this book and loads of little in-jokes to keep the intelligent reader chuckling - Mr Thornfield (Thornfield Hall), Patience Barbary (Miss Barbary), Quillfeather (Inspector Bucket) - as well as an understanding of the Punjab and the integration of Sikhs into British society. All in all this is a wonderful book to read, I kept thinking how clever it all was and then there was another turn, plotting is tight, language authentic and characters larger than life - I'm sad I've finished it!