Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Orphaned Jane Eyre has endured a life of austerity and hardship until she is appointed governess at Thornfield Hall, whose master is the remote, brooding Edward Rochester. When the two finally meet, they are drawn together and Jane’s future appears to be secure. But Rochester harbours a dark secret that bars their path to happiness. Charlotte Brontë was born at Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third child of Patrick and Maria Brontë. Her father was perpetual curate of Haworth, Yorkshire from 1820 until his death in 1861. Her mother died in 1821, leaving five daughters and a son. Charlotte was employed as a teacher from 1835 to 1838, was subsequently a governess, and in 1842 went with her sister Emily to study languages in Brussels, where during 1843 she again worked as a teacher. Charlotte's first novel, The Professor, was rejected by several publishers and was not published until 1857. Jane Eyre was published in 1847 and achieved immediate success. In 1848 Branwell Brontë died, as did Emily before the end of the same year, and Anne in the following summer, so that Charlotte alone survived of the six children. Charlotte married in 1854 the Revd A. B Nicholls, her father's curate, but died in March 1855.
