Jane Steele

Young Jane Steele's favorite book, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, mirrors her life both too little and too much. Faye's protagonist is abused by her cousin, shunned by her aunt, and then is sent to a boarding school where she finds companionship amid tyrannical oppression. She even meets and falls in love with her own "Mr. Rochester," Mr. Charles Thornfield of Highgate House. Unlike Jane Eyre, however, Jane Steele reacts to her persecutors with violence and leaves bloody bodies in her wake. She harbors other secrets as well—Highgate House is Jane's childhood home, and she starts her employ as governess with the secret intention of proving that she is the rightful heir. Mr. Thornfield and the house's other inhabitants have secrets and dark pasts as well, but if Jane confesses her wickedness and deceit to Mr. Thornfield, will he be able to forgive her? And can Jane use her "talents" to save the Highgate inhabitants from outside conspirators?