Jane

April Lindner's Jane is a YA retelling of Jane Eyre which has been a constant feature in our daily newsrounds. BrontëBlog will also review the book in the near future:

Jane
April Lindner
Poppy Books
# Hardcover: 384 pages
# Publisher: Poppy (October 11, 2010)
# ISBN-10: 0316084204
# ISBN-13: 978-0316084208

What if Jane Eyre fell in love with a rock star?

Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, practical and independent Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance with her magnetic and brooding employer, Nico Rathburn—who just happens to be a rock star.

But there's a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane's much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide: Does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?

Watch the trailer or read an excerpt.

Here's the press release of the novel:

“Publishers are putting all kinds of resources into beautifully produced y.a. books, possibly because they seem to be as popular with older people as they are with young readers,” Lindner says. “I think adults like reading these titles because they tend to offer more plot than current literary fiction aimed at the adult market. Also, reading y.a. books enables adults to go back to a time when their own love of reading was imprinted, which for many people was a powerful experience.” (...)
Lindner read Jane Eyre for the first time when she was 16, and has reread it every few years since then, either to teach it to her students, or for pleasure. “The book has so many layers that every time I read it I discover something new. And I always get caught up in Jane’s story – her thwarted love for Mr. Rochester and her inner strength.”

Noting that many adults crave more from the authors they read in their youth – like the Brontë sisters or Jane Austen – Lindner says they may feel bereft after they have read through each writer’s canon. “I think this explains the popularity of these sequels we see being written – like Mr. Darcy’s Daughters, a continuation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, or modern retellings, like “Clueless,” the movie based on Austen’s Emma – two hundred years after the first book was published. People hunger for more from their favorite characters.”
For her part, Lindner says her debut novel was inspired by a similar sentiment. “I so loved the character of Jane Eyre that I wanted to see if she could exist in the modern world. ”

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre