Jane Eyre is not historical fiction but is a novel of its time

WBUR shares an excerpt from Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star by Mayukh Sen.

I was a teenager when I first came across Merle Oberon as Cathy in William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights (1939), the film for which she is arguably most remembered today. It was around 2009 or so, and I was a senior in high school in suburban New Jersey. By that point, she had been dead for three decades, but I felt bound to her by city and skin. 

On News4, the director of the Dothan Houston County Library System, Chris Warren, recommends Jane Eyre.

“The fact there was a book at this time of such depth where she’s exploring emotions and morality and all these different quirks of Victorian society is really meaningful,” Warren said.

“Even though there should be that divide between them because of economics and social status, the two of them fall in love throughout the novel,” Warren explained. “And what’s so important is that they see each other for who they really are. They cut through the noise of Victorian society.”

While many of us may have had to read this novel in school, Warren said it’s a great pick for romance fans and those who love to be transported back into a different time period. Jane Eyre is not historical fiction but is a novel of its time, giving readers insight into the ins and outs of Victorian society. (Cassidy Lee)

El Sol de Tampico (Mexico) recommends Wuthering Heights for International Women's Day.

2.-Cumbres borrascosas de Emily Bronte (1847)

Una de las protagonistas de esta historia, Catherine Earnshaw, es una mujer con un carácter egoísta, la cual tiende fácilmente al capricho.

Earnshaw está enamorada de Heathcliff, un hombre sin fortuna que llegó a su hogar, Cumbres borrascosas, desde que era un niño. A pesar de que su afecto es correspondido, ella prefiere casarse con Edgar Linton, un joven de su misma posición social.

Heathcliff, herido por las acciones de Earnshaw, se va de la finca a buscar suerte en otros lados y cuando regresa es un hombre enriquecido por medios desconocidos. El hombre comienza a torturar a su antiguo amor, hasta hacerla estallar de celos y resentimiento, conduciéndola hasta el límite. (Itzia Rangole) (Translation)