Jane Eyre

"Reader, I married him."

Few lines in English literature are more famous—or more quietly radical. Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel follows orphaned, plain-spoken Jane Eyre from an abusive childhood through a governess post at Thornfield Hall, where she falls for her brooding employer, Edward Rochester—only to discover the secret locked in his attic.

This Contested Classicsedition doesn't just reprint the novel; it interrogates it. Over 500 in-text annotations unpack the Biblical allusions, Victorian social codes, and historical context modern readers miss, while flagging exactly where the book has drawn fire—for Jane's unapologetic self-assertion, her challenges to religious and class authority, and Brontë's treatment of Bertha Mason, the Jamaican-born "madwoman" whose imprisonment has made the novel a flashpoint for conversations about race and colonialism.

A new introduction, two critical essays, curated further reading, and 35 discussion questions turn a familiar assigned read into a live argument—perfect for classrooms, book clubs, and any reader who thought they already read it.