Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker

 

First Line: I know little of my birth, for my mother died long before she could tell me-- before I ever heard her voice or gazed at her face-- and my father banished the woman who helped deliver me, blaming her for my mother's death.

Sarah Shoemaker's Mr. Rochester is a retelling of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and I fell in love with it. The book is told from the point of view of Edward Fairfax Rochester himself, and readers learn about his life from the time he was a motherless boy roaming the lonely corridors of Thornfield Hall to his eventual marriage to Jane Eyre. 

Although Charlotte is not my favorite of the Brontë sisters (Anne is), I've always loved her Jane Eyre. I've watched the BBC mini-series starring Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton so much that I have vast swathes of the dialogue memorized. I've always wanted to learn more about Rochester, and Shoemaker does a marvelous job of filling in the blanks that both blend in with the original book and make for an engrossing story.

Here, Rochester is a boy/man starved for love, starved for someone to call him by his name, and I couldn't help but fall in love with him. His schooling, his fruitless attempts to earn his father's love, the family business, his marriage to Bertha Mason... as he weathers each storm, I became totally invested in his soul-withering journey toward Jane. The icing on the cake was learning just how much he was willing to give up to have a life with her. I kept wanting to hug the poor man!

I found so much to appreciate in Mr. Rochester. How he came to have his dog, Pilot, and his horse, Mesrour. I even learned the origin of one of my husband's favorite expressions, "cloth ears." 

Oh... by the way, if you're thinking of reading this book to learn more about Jane, I wouldn't recommend it. Jane shows up two-thirds of the way through the book. She had her own book, her own time in the spotlight. This is Edward Fairfax Rochester's time to shine, and he does. Brilliantly. 

Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker

eISBN: 9781455569823

Grand Central Publishing © 2017

eBook, 465 pages

Historical Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Death of a Dowager by Joanna Campbell Slan

 

First Line: Love has a transformative power, an alchemy that reshapes the most intransigent personality.

 

Even though storm damage to Ferndean Manor makes the place barely habitable, Jane Eyre Rochester would happily endure the inconvenience and stay there while repairs are being made. The only thing that induces her to leave is her husband's worsening eyesight and depression, so it's off to London to stay with friends while they consult a specialist.

 

Jane's friend persuades her to attend the opera, but as it turns out, there's more drama in the audience than on the stage. Jane not only finds herself in the presence of the King, but she also comes in contact with an old  nemesis: Silvana Ingram, the dowager who had hoped her eldest daughter Blanche would marry Edward Fairfax Rochester. The dowager delivers a very public snub that Jane thinks little of until she is made aware of the devastating effect it could have on her friend, Lucy Brayton, with whom she's staying.

 

In hopes of minimizing the damage, Jane and Lucy go to the Ingrams' London home only to have the dowager drop dead during tea. The woman's death was an unnatural one, and Jane knows that she's going to have to identify the killer. The only thing that's holding her back is unwelcome visits from the King and his mistress.

 

 ~

Joanna Campbell Slan's first Jane Eyre Chronicles book, Death of a Schoolgirl, was one of my Best Reads of 2012, so I really looked forward to this second in the series, Death of a Dowager. The anticipation was heightened because Jane was destined to deal with those pesky, entitled Ingrams. I definitely wanted to see what Slan had in store for them.

Once again, Slan uses language that is reminiscent of the original Brontë classic, and little, brave, observant Jane Eyre Rochester once again makes the perfect amateur sleuth. There are two main mysteries to solve in Death of a Dowager: one involving the murder of Silvana Ingram, and the other concerning Jane's possession of a love letter written by George IV that could have devastating repercussions on both the Crown and the nation. Of the two, I felt the one involving the royal love letter was the less engaging, although it did show the country could easily have been thrown into chaos by the discovery of such a thing.

And this highlights one of the strengths of these Jane Eyre Chronicles: the period in which they are set. Jane and the rest of the cast are placed firmly in the time in which they lived, and this historical setting adds so much depth to the story. When readers learn that people living and traveling in London came home every day covered in coal dust, or that traveling by public coach often meant another passenger's lice would try their best to hop from their host to you... well, that brings them up close and personal to the time period.

Once again, Joanna Campbell Slan served up an excellent mystery featuring one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Now it's on to the third and last book, Christmas at Ferndean Manor.

Death of a Dowager by Joanna Campbell Slan

ISBN: 9781624904370

Berkley Prime Crime © 2013

Hardcover, 308 pages

Historical Mystery, #2 Jane Eyre Chronicles

Rating: B+

Source: Mystery Guild

Death of a Schoolgirl by Joanna Campbell Slan

First Line: Reader, I am delivered of a son.

That first line will make any lover of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre smile. The Rochesters live in Ferndean with their six-month-old son Ned, and their servants. It's been a life of seclusion, and Rochester is still recuperating from the injuries he sustained when Thornfield burned to the ground.

Rochester's ward, Adèle Varens is ten years old and in a boarding school in London. Jane is worried about her because what few letters they've received from the girl have sounded strange and have imparted very  little information-- a decided change from Adèle's normal behavior.

On the day when Rochester's doctor comes for a visit, they receive a letter from Adèle. It's another short, bland missive, but in a faint scribble on the page, Jane sees the words Au secours! (help) repeated three times. At first the Rochesters believe that the overly dramatic little girl is merely making a bid for attention, but when Jane finds a small note that looks very much like a threat included with the letter, the decision is made that Jane will go to London to make sure that everything is all right. Rochester is under doctor's orders to remain at home and will follow her in a few days.

The journey to London is a nightmare made even worse when Jane is beaten and robbed at one of the stops. Barely pausing at the home of Rochester's friend (where she'll be staying), Jane rushes to the school in time to see a body being taken away in the pouring rain. One of the schoolgirls is dead. What is first believed to be death by natural causes soon turns into a murder investigation, and since Adèle was partnered with the dead girl and vocal about not liking her, the Bow Street Runners are very interested in speaking to her.

The school is one teacher short, and a plan is formulated to have Jane temporarily pose as a teacher to insure that not only Adèle but all the girls are safe while the search is on for the murderer. This decision will put Jane's life in danger as well.

When I first learned of this book, I thought about all the novels based on Jane Austen's characters and thought, "It's about time Jane Eyre got her turn!" I'm not one for re-reading books, but there's always an exception to any rule. Jane Eyre is my exception to the No Re-Reading Rule.

Joanna Campbell Slan writes in a style so very reminiscent of Brontë's classic, but never is she a slave to the original. The style of the writing pulled me in immediately, but the story itself is what made me devour the pages. I was so engrossed and reading so quickly that it's a miracle that my eyeballs didn't catch fire. Little brave, intelligent, observant Jane is a perfect sleuth, and with the dead girl being so universally disliked by everyone at the school, all the clues Jane gathers don't seem to shorten the list of suspects.

The author introduces several new characters that add a great deal to the book, and I was also happy to discover that the police officer in charge of the investigation wasn't a slow-witted, belligerent oaf. A secondary plot line involving Jane's mugging kept me intrigued throughout; I almost couldn't keep myself from peeking ahead to see if I'd solved that particular mystery correctly.

Have you ever read a book in which you couldn't guess the identity of the killer, then when the person is revealed you want to slap yourself silly? That's me with Death of a Schoolgirl. I didn't know whodunit it until the most obvious clue of all was given... and then I realized that the author had placed clues throughout the book that I just hadn't seen. I love it when that happens!

If you're getting the impression that I loved this book, you are one hundred per cent correct. I only had one small item that momentarily threw me offstride (a question about the timeline and the potato famine in Ireland), but I shook that off immediately and kept on devouring the book. If you are a Jane Eyre lover, chances are excellent that you will love this book, too. (Get a copy now!) If you've never read the classic novel, I think that you will still enjoy this book as the marvelous historical mystery that it is.

I only have one question: When will I be able to get my hands on the next book in the Jane Eyre Chronicles???

Death of a Schoolgirl, The Jane Eyre Chronicles by Joanna Campbell Slan

ISBN: 9780425247747

Berkley Trade © 2012

Paperback, 352 pages

Historical Mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased at the Poisoned Pen