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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Jane Eyre
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(1847) The first published novel by Charlotte *Bronte. Jane's early life reflects that of her author, with years at a dreadful girl's school (Cowan Bridge in reality, Lowood in the novel) followed by employment as a governess, looking after Adèe, the ward of the broodingly romantic Mr Rochester. Edward Rochester and Jane fall in love, but their marriage ceremony is interrupted by that moment of drama which every wedding guest must often have imagined – the voice from the body of the church saying yes, there is an impediment.
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It turns out that Rochester already has a wife, a mad Creole living in the attic. Jane escapes to a new life with the family of a clergyman, St John Rivers; he is discovered to be her cousin, together they inherit a fortune, and she is about to marry him and go to India as a missionary when she hears the voice of Rochester mysteriously calling her. She returns to find his house, Thornfield, burnt down and Rochester blinded from his attempt to save his wife. All impediment removed, and with an added spur to her compassion, Jane begins the final chapter with one of fiction's best-known romantic statements: 'Reader, I married him'.
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