A Novel
by Sheila Kohler
The year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children dead. A father sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women, reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent.
So unfolds the story of the Brontë sisters. At its center are Charlotte and the writing of Jane Eyre. Delicately unraveling the connections between one of fiction's most indelible heroines and the remarkable woman who created her, Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre will appeal to fans of historical fiction and, of course, the millions of readers who adore Jane Eyre.
"Starred Review. Kohler's exploration ...is sensitive, intelligent and engaging. A beautiful complement to Bronte's masterpiece." - Kirkus Reviews
"Too much narration and switching of points of view slows the pace, but connecting the writer with her heroine is intriguing." - Publishers Weekly
"If you know Jane Eyre and love it, don't deny yourself the pleasure of this intense little companion book." - The Washington Post
"Becoming Jane Eyre is lush and filled with dark sensuality and the tension of unsaid things. The style is quite different from Charlotte Bronte's in Jane Eyre yet the tone and imagery and spirit remain in the same realm. Jane Eyre is is my favorite book and Sheila Kohler one of my favorite writers." - Amy Tan
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sheila Kohler is the author of nine previous works of fiction, including Cracks, which is now a movie starring Eva Green. Her work has been included in the Best American Short Stories, and she has won two O'Henry Prizes, an Open Fiction Award, a Willa Cather Prize, and a Smart Family Foundation Prize.
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