Illustrated by Santiago Caruso
Introduced by Emma Donoghue
Illustrated by Santiago Caruso, our edition of Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel celebrates its gothic undercurrents.
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.
Do you think I am an automaton? – a machine without feelings? ... Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! – I have as much soul as you – and full as much heart!
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.
‘Everybody I’ve ever mentioned the book to says, with a stern fervour, “I love Jane Eyre”’
- Emma Donoghue
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’.
Bound in printed and blocked buckram
Set in Adobe Caslon Pro
512 pages
Frontispiece and 9 colour illustrations
Plain slipcase
9½˝ x 6¼˝
Brilliant
Review by Clodagh on 29th January 2025
A beautiful volume,the start of a new collection.
Review by Cuarion Grimes on 3rd January 2025
Beautiful copy of Jane Eyre The drawings were incredible
Review by Stephanie on 26th December 2024
I have read and reread this volume multiple times, so I am now giving it as a gift for my holy Bishop and his family as a Christmas gift.
Review by ANGUS E CRANE on 11th December 2024
I am delighted with my recent purchase of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The illustrations are beautiful and the overall presentation up to my expectations.
Review by Caroline Simmill on 3rd December 2024
Wuthering Heights defies easy classification and stands alone as a uniquely powerful novel that transcends genre. Patti Smith, the singer-songwriter and poet, has written a new, lyrical introduction to this edition, in which she sums up Emily Brontë’s complex gifts.
The first illustrated edition of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s phenomenal Half of a Yellow Sun is published by The Folio Society, with a series of stunning watercolours by artist Unyime Edet.
Stephen Fry’s exclusive introduction to this new Folio Society edition lavishes praise on Georgette Heyer’s meticulously researched and deliciously entertaining Regency Romance, Venetia.
The last of Austen’s novels to be published, this is a tongue-in-cheek tale of the hazards of female friendship and undesirable suitors.
Potassium Bromide, Crystal, IR Grade
Ethyl Alcohol, Absolute, 200 Proof, Reagent, ACS
