Move Over, Jane Eyre: Recent Episodes
Jo Lawrence
For lovers of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’...disease plunders a grim northern orphanage and Miss Temple is stuck in this story - until she’s not. Reader: she marries the excellent Reverend Nasmyth and with help from companion Nan Wilson, gets to write the pages of her own tale, an exorcism of the past and testimony of murder to come.
Nan comes under scrutiny during a family soirée and meets enigmatic curate Ralph Munro. Maria has a plan to give her purpose and help her shrug off her condemnation by the doctor.
Nan finds her role as governess means managing parental expectations carefully. Maria is alerted to her husband’s subterfuge as the doctor pays an unexpected visit.
Nan meets the children she is to care for. Maria mourns the loss of Helen Burns and outlines her plans to lay her beloved pupil to rest with dignity.
Nan travels north to meet Maria Temple - now Mrs Nasmyth. The future is bright...or so it seems. A secret diary might tell a different story.