Jane Eyre is Charlotte Brontes most enduring masterpiece, the unforgettable tale of an orphan girls ardent search for a wider and richer life. Originally published in 1847, it was an immediate popular success, but it also caused a storm of controversy. Brontes firm insistence on the equality of the sexes and her prescient creation of one of literatures most independent heroines shocked many of her contemporaries. This surprisingly modern sensibility, combined with Brontes magical use of language and her incandescent storytelling, makes the novel particularly rewarding and accessible today. Set in Englands lonely moors and peopled with such memorable characters as the brooding Mr. Rochester, passionate yet melancholy, and the keeper of a terrible secret; the hypocritical Mr. Brocklehurst, a dour black marble clergyman; Helen Burns, Janes beloved but doomed young friend; Bertha, the famous madwoman in the attic; and of course, its incomparable heroine, Jane Eyre has rightfully taken its place among our greatest literary works.