Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre

£65

Illustrated by Santiago Caruso

Introduced By Emma Donoghue

Illustrated by Santiago Caruso, our edition of Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel celebrates its gothic undercurrents.

Jane Eyre

£65

Book Details

Presentation Box & BindingBound in printed and blocked buckram
Plain slipcase

Dimensions9½ inches x 6¼ inches

FontSet in Adobe Caslon Pro

Pages512 pages

AuthorCharlotte Brontë

Illustrated bySantiago Caruso

IllustrationFrontispiece and 9 colour illustrations

Publication Date12/02/2014

Editor's Notes

Orphaned Jane emerges from a cold, hostile upbringing at Lowood Institution to take her place as governess at Thornfield, home of Mr Rochester. Her petulant but loving charge, Adele, and the housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, are her sole company, while Rochester remains a distant, mysterious and yet imposing presence. As time goes by, however, Jane's; life at Thornfield becomes increasingly unsettled, and strange and ever more frightening occurrences lead her towards a shocking revelation.

As compelling in character as she is ordinary in looks, Jane Eyre is one of literature’s greatest heroines. Hers is a captivating love story that encompasses, among other things, loss, deception, devotion and obsession. With themes of madness and forbidden knowledge, and a Byronic male lead – the glowering Rochester – Jane Eyre is also a suspenseful gothic mystery. Its sparse settings resemble those of Wuthering Heights; places which not only lend themselves to the novel’ psychological drama, but in which the air crackles and whispers with forces beyond human control. However, the narrative belongs to Jane, and it is her singularity and the vivid portrayal of her inner life that make this novel exceptional. Brontë’s intimate first-person narrative formed a template for later authors, including Joyce and Proust. As a female character, Jane was far ahead of her time. In her fierce meditations on spiritual and emotional dilemmas, and her determination to remain inwardly free when the cruelties and desires of others threaten her integrity, she was a proto-feminist figure quite unlike her pliant predecessors.

Artist Santiago Caruso’s dedication to the fantastique made him sensitive to the novel’s otherworldliness. His illustrations evoke its eerie scenery and the intensity of Jane’s experiences. In most she is central: a small but wilful figure whose ‘obscure’ life is as profoundly engaging as that of the most dazzling heroine. As author Emma Donoghue writes in her introduction, Jane ‘survives all sorts of abuses and humiliations because she is driven on by a sense that she matters, because everybody matters’.

About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

Santiago Caruso was born in Quilmes, Argentina, in 1982. He is an avant-garde symbolist artist, and his work is rooted in the 19th century’s decadentism. Dedicated to the fantastique, he has illustrated books for publishers worldwide. His work stands out for the vigour of its poetry as well as for its technique. Caruso’s artwork is represented in galleries in Buenos Aires, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Spain.

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About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

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About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

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About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

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About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

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About the Illustrator

Santiago Caruso

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Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816. Her father was curate of Haworth, Yorkshire, and her mother died when she was five years old. In 1824 Charlotte and three of her four sisters were sent to Cowan Bridge, a school for clergymen’s daughters, where her two elder sisters died having contracted tuberculosis. Brought back to Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne were educated at home. In 1846 the sisters published the commercially unsuccessful Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. In 1847 Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was published to immediate acclaim. In a short period during 1848–9 her remaining sisters, as well as her brother, Branwell, died. Charlotte published two further novels; Shirley in 1849 and Villette in 1853. She married her father’s curate in 1854 and died the following year, on 31 March 1855.

Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin in 1969. She is a writer of fiction, history and drama for radio, stage and screen. Her novels include the international best-seller Room (2010, shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange prizes) as well as Stir-fry (1994), Slammerkin (2000) and The Sealed Letter (2008). After receiving a PhD in eighteenth century English literature at Cambridge University, she moved to Canada, where she lives with her partner and two children.

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