Plot summary

After being orphaned, Jane Eyre had a childhood being treated cruelly by those in charge of her welfare, first by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, then second those at Lowood School for Girls, where she at least received an education. Now nineteen, Jane, going by the assumed name Jane Elliott, arrives with nothing and within an inch of her life on the doorstep of Moor House, the home of the plain living Rivers siblings, who, led by St. John Rivers, not only nurse her back to health, but secure employment for her as a teacher. Why Jane has taken this new name is to hide from where she just came, her first position following her schooling, as governess to Adèle Varens, the French ward of Edward Fairfax Rochester, the master of Thornfield Hall. Despite a slightly antagonistic beginning and the differences in their position, a romantic attraction formed between Jane and Rochester despite he courting Blanche Ingram. It was not Blanche but a secret he hid from the world that led to Jane running away from Thornfield, he having placed her in the difficult position of bringing her into his confidence to hide that secret without telling her what that secret was or that he was indeed hiding something. Factors into what happens with Jane are her past catching up with her, time with St. John, her continued feelings for Rochester, and that secret.—Huggo