So it makes perfect sense to me that a contemporary author’s take on Jane Eyre’s story would bring the feminism much further to the forefront. Jane Eyre has long been considered a feminist figure, with her desire for independence over romance, yet with the proviso that the extent of her feminism was very much constrained by the time in which her story was written. I love the idea of someone who is powerless wresting control from those who seek to keep her under their thumb. It’s an intriguing premise, and much darker than I’d anticipated - the very first few chapters recounted Jane’s sexual abuse at the hands of her cousin, and later on, the boarding school scenes depicted a sadistic headmaster who withheld food from young girls. Jane Steele is a serial killer - “Reader, I murdered him.” rather than “Reader, I married him.” - but all her killings were either in self defence or in defence of a woman or child facing abuse.
In Jane Steele, Lyndsay Faye re-imagines Jane Eyre as a sort of avenging angel / vigilante heroine figure.
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