Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, commonly referred to simply as Jane Eyre, is one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed works of Victorian literature. Written by Charlotte Brontë, this coming-of-age novel explores themes of love, independence, morality, and the role of women in society. In 2003, the novel was ranked as the UK’s tenth favorite novel in the BBC’s “Big Read” survey, attesting to its lasting impact on readers worldwide.
In this blog post, we’ll dive deeper into Jane Eyre, providing context, a detailed summary, and an explanation of how you can access this literary masterpiece for free—thanks to its public domain status.
About Jane Eyre
First published in 1847, Jane Eyre was released in three volumes—a common format for 19th-century British novels. Interestingly, the first edition did not carry Charlotte Brontë’s name. Instead, it was attributed to “Currer Bell,” a pen name Brontë used to conceal her gender while retaining her initials.
Although it received positive reviews upon release, the revelation that “Currer Bell” was a woman led to some negative criticism. Nevertheless, the novel was commercially successful during Brontë’s lifetime and has since sold over one million copies.
Jane Eyre’s enduring appeal has inspired numerous adaptations for television, film, stage, radio, and even animation. Its influence on the literary canon is undeniable.
Jane Eyre Summary
Jane Eyre is a quintessential Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, chronicling the life of the title character from her difficult childhood to her adulthood, where she ultimately finds love. The story is told from Jane’s perspective and tackles a wide range of themes, including romance, abuse, class, religion
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Jane Eyre on Project Gutenberg – ePUB, HTML, Kindle: One of the easiest and quickest ways to do this is to find Jane Eyre on Project Gutenberg and download or view the novel from there. You can access the main Project Gutenberg page for Jane Eyre at the following URL:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1260
By following that link, you will have access to the novel in ePUB, MOBI, HTML and plain text formats.
Read the Jane Eyre book online – HTML: As an alternative, you can also check out Jane Eyre on ManyBooks, using the URL below:
https://manybooks.net/book/122090/read#epubcfi(/6/2[titlepage]!/4/1:0)
This provides access to a Jane Eyre PDF, which can be read within your internet browser.
Jane Eyre PDF, ePUB – Original: The PDF version can also be obtained at Open Library, which is part of the Archive.org brand.
For the PDF version, a scan of the original book, please visit:
https://archive.org/stream/janeeyre00dulagoog?ref=ol#page/n16/mode/2up
Jane Eyre Audiobook: A free audiobook version can be streamed at Librivox.org.
Find the Jane Eyre Librivox Audiobook here:
https://librivox.org/jane-eyre-version-3-by-charlotte-bronte/.