Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

Author: Charlotte Brontë | Published: 1847

Jane Eyre Synopsis

Jane Eyre tells the tale of a young woman who overcomes various hardships in her life before finding happiness.

Excerpt from Jane Eyre Online Book

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question.

I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group; saying, “She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance; but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation, that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner—something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were—she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children.”

“What does Bessie say I have done?” I asked.

Find out more about Charlotte Brontë at sevenov.com.

Charlotte Brontë's Books on PageVio

Novels: Jane Eyre | Shirley | Villette | The Professor

Juvenilia: The Search After Happiness

Non-fiction: Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell

Poetry: Richard Coeur de Lion and Blondel | Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Here's a full list of Charlotte Brontë's books.