I HAVE found throughout the years that most people avoid 'classics' like the plague. From school we often learn to despise Shakespeare and shun any book over twenty years old. However, if you can conquer the fear of occasionally encountering an unfamiliar word and get past the mindset that all classics are boring, then you will be very well rewarded.

Jane Eyre is one of the most brilliant and rewarding books that you could ever hope to read. Before I read Jane Eyre, I had it fixed in my mind that it was some sort of soppy love story. I could not be more wrong. Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë and first published in 1847, is the story of an English governess who is constantly removed from one place to the next, constantly searching for fulfilment and happiness along the way. It begins with Jane, the 10 year old orphan who is cruelly treated at the hands of her wicked aunt and cousins. The book sees her journey through her severe tutelage at Lowood School and eventually find herself at Thornfield Hall as a governess to Adele Varens, the young ward of the shadowy, yet intriguing Mr Rochester. Throughout the novel we are sucked further and further in with the fascinating characters and gradually learn of the secrets that the Byronic master of Thornfield Hall has tried desperately to bury.

Jane Eyre is one of those books that once you pick up, you cannot put down. The plot is fast moving and the pace is rarely slowed. It is beautifully written, making it so easy for the reader to enjoy and love the characters, and become as entwined in the story as they themselves are. It is a novel so far ahead of its time, with the heroine expressing views that would rarely have been discussed in the time that it was written in. It is a gripping novel, fraught with tension and tragedy, but also moments of extreme happiness where the reader exults along with the characters.

Everyone has heard of Jane Eyre, and everyone will have their own thoughts on this outstanding novel. But please, do not let poorly acted film versions or GCSE English lessons turn you against; this is one prejudice you need to overcome.