I had recently watched the film Jane Eyre and wanted to immediately read this book since I knew there was a subtext to what Bronte was trying to say with that story. I will confess that I have never read the novel, which makes my review of this book a more basic interpretation of the messaging.

The premise of this book is that Charlotte Bronte wrote an occult novel that initiated Jane through the 5 elements to achieve a state of union between her heart and soul. As Jane experiences the 5 elements, earth, air, fire, water, and the quintessence, through encoded symbolism at various points in the plot, she mirrors Charlotte Bronte's own awakening to the romance of spirit. Elizabeth Imlay decodes the symbols and hidden meanings of various characters, events, people, places, and things throughout the story to show how everything was deliberately written by Bronte to expound her supposed research and knowledge of the occult- alchemy, neo-platonism, freemasonry, and mythology to name a few. Imlay relates Jane Eyre to the Cupid and Psyche myth, which is an allegory for the union of heart and soul. At some points in this book, it seems as though Imlay is trying to fit Jane Eyre into her theory instead of providing solid evidence of the thesis, however, if the whole point is that Jane Eyre is a carefully crafted metaphysical novel, than not everything will be surface level.

The passion and love the Elizabeth Imlay has for this novel is obvious, with her in depth research and analysis a huge undertaking. I appreciate the connections made between the spiritual and physical, and although we may never know the true meaning of Jane Eyre as intended by Charlotte Bronte, one thing we do know, is that there must be a deeper reason why the story continues to live on. If Elizabeth Imlay's theory is true, then Jane Eyre represents the quintessence of spirit- the philosopher's stone of immortality.

The passion the author has for this topic came through strongly. I did feel a bit lost myself as it’s been quite a while since I’ve read Jane Eyre. However it was incredibly interesting regardless and I found myself increasingly interested!

I had never read Jane Eyre before because I’ve always been a little intimidated by it, but reading this book and experiencing the passion someone else had for the story makes me want to! The author does a great job of analyzing the book and making the analysis accessible and easy to understand

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC!
This book was an eye opener. I think Charlotte Brontë would've been delighted to have a reader analyzing so closely her work, in this case, Jane Eyre. She struggled with loneliness and not feeling understood, and yet, this author understands exactly Charlotte's ideas.
This book makes me super excited to re-read Jane Eyre through different lenses, ones that contemplate the myth of Eros and Psyche (while also remembering details of Venus, Hephesthus and Ares), classic fairy tales and also, autobiographical details like Charlotte's own battles with passion and reason.
I never connected this ideas while reading the book because as a fan of Charlotte Brontë, I kept her in a pedestal that read: "phenomenal writer of masterpieces", and that still holds true, but now, I have discovered a new side of her that I never contemplated, her side as a reader, as a lover of tales, myths and ideas and how complete my picture of Charlotte feels now!
In my utter fascination with Jane Eyre and it's author, I never once thought of it as the crafted art it was, only as complete inspiration and unique talent.
Besides my praise for the book and Charlotte Brontë, I want to praise the author of this book for how thoroughly she investigated, but also, how wonderful she was at making all her research seem simple for the reader of this book to absorb. I was never bored nor desinterested while reading this book, quite the opposite, I was sad to finish it. I can only say that I hope the author writes more books like these (about Emily and Anne Brontë, a biology of the Brontë family or even of Elizabeth Gaskell) because they would be a complete delight to read.