Books Inspired by Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte’s Victorian heroine has a spine of steel and a spirit of adventure — no wonder she’s inspired so many literary homages.

You could make a fair case that Jane Eyre — with its turbulent teen narrator determined to find her place in the world — stands as the first great English YA novel. Charlotte Bronte might not have seen it that way since the YA genre didn’t exist in 1847, but Bronte’s plain, fierce, stubborn heroine has inspired a slew of modern YA novels, many of which are worth your reading time. These are some of our favorites:

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

Jane Eyre in space! Stella Ainsley is thrilled to finally score a position as a governess on the private ship Rochester, a step up within the ragtag fleet of humanity circling the now-ice-encased Earth. The ship’s captain, notoriously volatile young Hugo Fairfax, develops an unheard-of soft spot for Stella, who suspects her new boss may be in the crosshairs of a conspiracy.

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Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

If Jane Eyre were passively polite and Mrs. Fairfax was a little creepier, you’d find yourself in Rebecca, where the young second Mrs. de Winter is trying to adjust to life in the shadow of her husband’s larger-than-life first wife, whose presence continues to haunt their ancient manor house after her tragic death. Jane would have handled the whole situation much more efficiently.

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Jane Steele by Lyndsay Fay

If Jane Eyre channeled her inner Dexter, you’d get this homage, starring a Jane who isn’t afraid to express her discontent with a bit of murder. Like Eyre, Jane Steele grows up with an unpleasant aunt and cousins before being sent off to a dreadful boarding school; unlike Eyre, Steele leaves a trail of bodies in her wake on her way to becoming a governess for Mr. Thornfield.

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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Jane’s first-person narration limits her experiences in this wacky sci-fi novel, in which a literary detective from an alternate Britain must leap into the novel to save its characters from a criminal mastermind. Jane, of course, mustn’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, or the book will be ruined.

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