Its setting is somewhere in the north of England, late in the reign of George III (1760–1820). The novel is a first-person narrative from the perspective of the title character. The second edition was dedicated to William Makepeace Thackeray. It was originally published in three volumes in the 19th century, comprising chapters 1 to 15, 16 to 27, and 28 to 38. It, along with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most famous romance novels. The book contains elements of social criticism with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and it is considered by many to be ahead of its time because of Jane's individualistic character and how the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion, and feminism. Charlotte Brontë has been called the 'first historian of the private consciousness', and the literary ancestor of writers like Marcel Proust and James Joyce. The novel revolutionised prose fiction by being the first to focus on its protagonist's moral and spiritual development through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are coloured by a psychological intensity. Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman which follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. It was published under her pen name 'Currer Bell' on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. Jane Eyre ( / ɛər/ AIR originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte BrontÃ«