# Recommend a book along the lines of "Jane Eyre" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872 "2006-09-08T02:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/21 "2006-09-08T22:42:51Z")
Wow, thank you! I have enough here to keep me busy for a month! I’ve already read most of Jane Austen’s catalogue ( **Persuasion** is my favorite, followed by **Mansfield Park** , as if you couldn’t figure that out), and I’ve read **The Girl with the Pearl Earring** (loved it) and **Bleak House** (was crushed when Esther turned down Mr. Jarndyce, whom I adored). I started **Gaudy Night** once, but put it down for reasons I cannot recall. I feel I have to defend myself – I do have broader tastes than I’m representing here, but this really is a favorite theme of mine. 🙂 I will truly check out each and every recommendation you all have posted. I just checked out from the library **Villette** and two du Mauriers ( **The King’s General** and **Jamaica Inn** were out, so I got **The House on the Strand** and **The Breaking Point** …which may not fit my bill, but I love her writing style, so I’m sure I won’t be disappointed). I suspect I will end up reading du Maurier’s entire catalogue (I loved **Rebecca** that much). Oh, and I also discovered that Jonatha Ceely has published a sequel to **Mina** , called **Bread and Dreams** – I’m actually taking a break from it to post here. These are good stories – they’re about a young Irish girl who escapes the Irish Famine (and a terrible shipwreck, and some people who want to buy her freedom) and disguises herself as a boy and works in the kitchen of a great house in England. There she meets a Jewish Italian cook, who is a sad and gentle and lovely man (I have a literary crush on him), and they form a lovely friendship. In the sequel, they’ve travelled together to America (she disguised as his nephew), and they’ve just parted ways…though, I hope, not for long. Keep the suggestions coming! ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/22 "2006-09-08T22:49:07Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I haven’t read the books, but I loved the British mini-series based on the **Poldark** books by Winston Graham. Demelza, the heroine, isn’t particularly shy, but she loved a man of higher social standing, and it took him freakin’ forever to figure out that he loved her too. [/QUOTE] I happen to have just re-watched the Poldark TV series and am now re-reading the novels (I’m up to the third one). FYI, there are a number of departures between the novels and the series, though they are both very worthwhile. Unfortunately, the TV series is no longer available new in the US. (I got the VHS tapes a few years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/23 "2006-09-09T00:25:19Z")
**gallows fodder** , I’m right with you on the themes you enjoy (and I’ll cast another vote for **The Girl with the Pearl Earring**.) Some more recs: **Through a Glass Darkly** by Karleen Koen. I read it ages ago, but it’s one of those those books that I remember getting to the end of and thinking, “No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!” **The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All** by Allen Gurganus. I really did not like this book the first time I read it, but then I realized how haunted I was by certain images and phrases and plot points. I have not seen the TV adaptation, but I can’t imagine that it came close to doing justice to this book. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/24 "2006-09-09T00:46:25Z")
Ah, I was going to suggest _Persuasion_, but I see you have already read it. I was going to suggest _Villette_ as well, but a couple somebodies beat me to it. It really is wonderful, and I like it much more than _Jane Eyre_. You might want to try _Howard’s End_ by EM Forster. It’s about the struggle between classes in society and offers several love stories, of varying “successfulness.” A much different take on intermarriage between different classes than the other books mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/25 "2006-09-09T01:13:48Z")
I’m going to add another novel to this list: **Moonraker’s Bride** by Madeleine Brent, whom **Jess** mentioned above. I first read this book when I was 10 – gosh, it may have been the book that started the obsession! It’s about an orphaned English girl raised in China at the turn of the century who marries a mysterious stranger while he’s in prison (can’t remember exactly why right now), and then he is apparently executed. She is taken to England and lives with a snotty family, who barely tolerate her and her gauche ways. Then her husband shows up alive and takes her home with him, only to ignore her except for rare occasions when they go out to the theatre, and she can’t figure out what his damage is. There’s a quest for a hidden treasure and the Boxer Rebellion all mixed into the plot, too. It ends wonderfully, and it’s full of great historical detail. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/26 "2006-09-09T04:38:08Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] Bronte’s **Jane Eyre** , du Maurier’s **Rebecca** , Valerie Martin’s **Mary Reilly** , Jonatha Ceely’s **Mina** …I enjoyed these books very much. All of these feature a narrator who is a shy, modest, sympathetic girl of low social standing who has a relationship (romance or friendship) with an older man who is socially superior. I love this theme. I want to read more books like these. But…what are they? [If I might further specify my request, I’m not interested in out-and-out romance novels (or rather, Romance, viz., bodice-rippers, etc.), and the important thing is that the narrator is likeable.] [/QUOTE] Well, if after reading all the books that others here are suggesting, you’d like a slight variation on this theme, I highly reccommend Thackeray’s _Vanity Fair_. Let’s consider Becky Sharp, perhaps fiction’s first female antihero (the book’s subtitle is “A Novel Without a Hero”): Girl: yes Low social standing: check. Relationship with older, socially superior man: And how. Plenty of them. Shy, modest, sympathetic. Well, not so much. (But she can do a _very_ good impression of those qualities.) Likeable: Many would say no, but she’s so ambitious, determined, and resilient, that it’s hard not to have a certain grudging admiration for someone who so clearly knows who she is and what she wants. Also, the narrator’s witty and satirical observations about the characters and society at large make _Vanity Fair_ a very enjoyable read, if not _precisely_ what you were asking for. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/27 "2006-09-09T06:48:31Z")
I don’t know if it would be to your taste, but [Jenna Starborn](http://www.amazon.com/Jenna-Starborn-Sharon-Shinn/dp/0441010296/sr=1-17/qid=1157784163/ref=sr_1_17/104-8681248-9848755?ie=UTF8&s=books) is a science fiction re-telling of **Jane Eyre** by Sharon Shinn. It’s an interesting spin on the story and Shinn does a decent job of staying true to the general themes and feel of the original. I’m not a huge SF/fantasy fan but the offbeat premise of this one caught my interest. It’s worth a read. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/28 "2006-09-09T08:59:07Z")
Hello, **fodder**! Although the classic _Forever Amber_ breaks some of your rules, it is a smashingly good read. Let’s put it this way. I took it with me on my honeymoon and I couldn’t put it down. The main character is not such a sweet girl, but the story is fascinating! I think the author was Windsor, but I’m not sure. It should be very easy to find. (Don’t waste your time on the movie. Ugh!) A gothic novel that does stand out in my mind as particularly good was one called _Claire_. I kept it until it disintegrated. Have you read _Wuthering Heights_? It was also written by one of the Bronte sisters. Again, it breaks your rules, but oh, what a love story! I’m glad you started this thread. I will have to keep a list myself. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/29 "2006-09-09T11:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] … so I got **The House on the Strand** [/QUOTE] This is a good one! A sort of time-travel story. I carried it with me to read the last time I visited Cornwall. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/30 "2006-09-09T13:38:45Z")
[QUOTE=gallows fodder] I’m going to add another novel to this list: **Moonraker’s Bride** by Madeleine Brent, whom **Jess** mentioned above. I first read this book when I was 10 – gosh, it may have been the book that started the obsession! … [/QUOTE] Oh, you’ve read one of Brent’s! If you haven’t read the rest of them, you really ought to. I just wish he’d written more of them – they are really among my favorite books of all time. He had a real hand for strong & competent women (as I said before, he was the creator of Modesty Blaise). Some of the worst of the gothic romances had really weak, victim-ish heroines – it was a flaw in the genre, frankly, probably stemming from a misunderstanding of Jane Eyre’s character. I have heard people claim (most of whom could not have read the book) that Jane was a wimp! Anyway, given this new information (that your gothic affection may have started with Moonraker’s Bride, you _definately_ need to take my list above to the library with you. My affection for the genre also started with Brent (whom I also started reading at around age 10) and all of the books I suggested were favorites because their heroines reminded me, in some way, of Madeline Brent’s heroines. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/31 "2006-09-10T00:40:39Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] I love it too, but Harriet just doesn’t strike me as the right heroine for the OP. She’s had lovers! [/QUOTE] \*\*A \*\* lover, one, prior to Lord Peter; and if he didn’t mind, why should we? However she does lose out on the “shy, modest” categories called for in the OP. If you find the Vane likable, she first appears in _Strong Poison_, though she doesn’t actually do much, being in jail at the time. _Have His Carcase_ (that isn’t a typo) might be more fun for romantics than _Gaudy Night_ because Harriet and Peter spend more of it actually together, alternately sparring, flirting, and solving a murder. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/32 "2006-09-10T01:29:27Z")
[QUOTE=TVeblen] I don’t know if it would be to your taste, but [Jenna Starborn](http://www.amazon.com/Jenna-Starborn-Sharon-Shinn/dp/0441010296/sr=1-17/qid=1157784163/ref=sr_1_17/104-8681248-9848755?ie=UTF8&s=books) is a science fiction re-telling of **Jane Eyre** by Sharon Shinn. It’s an interesting spin on the story and Shinn does a decent job of staying true to the general themes and feel of the original. I’m not a huge SF/fantasy fan but the offbeat premise of this one caught my interest. It’s worth a read. [/QUOTE] Damn, **Veb**. That’s what I came in here to say. You took my answer! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/33 "2006-09-10T06:22:10Z")
**Middlemarch** by George Eliot (one of the greatest English novels of the 19th century) **Emma** by Jane Austen **Cranford** by Mrs Gaskell ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/34 "2006-09-10T09:52:43Z")
There’s always Jean Rhys’s **Wide Sargasso Sea** , which is actually a prequel to jane Eyre. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872/35 "2006-09-10T14:04:00Z")
Slightly off genre, but a really fun 19th-century novel: _Lady Audley’s Secret_, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-along-the-lines-of-jane-eyre/371872.md?page=1)