Jane Eyre Paperback - 2008

Charlotte Bronte lived from 1816 to 1855. In 1824 she was sent away to school with her four sisters and they were treated so badly that their father brought them home to Haworth in Yorkshire. The elder two sisters died within a few days and Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne were brought up in the isolated village. They were often lonely and loved to walk on the moors. They were all great readers and soon began to write small pieces of verse and stories.

Once Charlotte’s informal education was over she began to work as a governess and teacher in Yorkshire and Belgium so that she could add to the low family income and help to pay for her brother Branwell’s art education. Charlotte was a rather nervous young woman and didn’t like to be away from home for too long. The sisters began to write more seriously and published poetry in 1846 under male pen names – there was a lot of prejudice against women writers. The book was not a success and the sisters all moved on to write novels. Charlotte’s best-known book, Jane Eyre, appeared in 1847 and was soon seen as a work of genius. Charlotte really knew how to make characters and situations come alive.

Charlotte’s life was full of tragedy, never more so than when her brother Branwell and sisters Emily and Anne died within a few months in 1848/49. She married her father’s curate in 1854 but died in 1855, before her fortieth birthday.

Erica Jong left a Ph.D. program at Columbia to write her ground-breaking novel Fear of Flying, published in 1973. Jong is the author of numerous award-winning books of poetry and novels including Fanny, How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, Any Woman’s Blues, and the forthcoming Sappho’s Leap. She is also the author of the memoir Fear of Fifty. She lives in New York City and Connecticut.

Charlotte Bront (1816-55) was the third of the three famous Bront sisters. Together with her sisters, Charlotte published Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (the pseudonyms of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne). Though this sold a disappointing two copies, the publication of Jane Eyre in 1847 achieved immediate success, and stirred much speculation about the identity of "Currer Bell." Charlotte eventually revealed her identity, and later wrote Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853).

Erica Jong is a poet and New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Fear of Flying, How to Save Your Own Life, Fanny, Sappho's Leap, and Fear of Dying. She continues to be vocal on the subjects of women, writing, and her generation, as in her memoirs, Fear of Fifty and Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life. Her many honors include the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature and Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize.

Marcelle Clements is a novelist and journalist who has contributed articles on culture, the arts, and politics to many national publications. She is the author of two books of nonfiction, The Dog Is Us and The Improvised Woman, and the novels Rock Me and Midsummer. She teaches at New York University.