Classic characters never really stay put, do they? Well, who can blame them, a couple hundred years stuck between the same paperback covers might make anyone a little stir crazy, even if you’re hanging out at amazing manor homes like Pemberly, Hartfield or (a pre-burnt-to-the-ground) Thornfield Hall.
I think that’s why these classic characters like to stay on the move; they may travel through different ports – traversing the Wide Sargasso Sea to a new bookshelf, or channeling a Beverly Hills teenager on the screen – they may tangle with Zombies, fourth-wall breaks, and evolving modern values, but they find their way into present-day, over and over again, and so many writers are there to help them along, finding new scenes and new forms for them to inhabit.
I didn’t consciously intend to be one those writers, but Jane Eyre had other plans when I spotted her sitting in a cubicle in my office, glancing nervously at Mr. Rochester’s closed door across the hall. Inspiration struck - and exhaustion struck because when you start to see fictional characters walking around and using the photocopy machine maybe it’s time to take a vacation and get out of the office for a bit… or y’know, spend your scant coffee breaks plotting out a novel instead.
I’d been working in Toronto’s financial sector doing communications in law firms for a while (the big corporate, scary kind of law firm – think skyscraper officers, mergers and acquisitions, long hours and corner offices, and clients wearing suits that cost as much as my car) when Jane first started popping up, having abandoned her usual gothic setting to go tripping through my imagination and work place, like the determined, resilient heroine that she is.
Caption: In Jane & Edward, a modern-day Jane goes to work in the soaring "BMO tower" in the heart of Toronto’s financial district
I realized this kind of law firm had everything she needed to live out her story once again – a unique ecosystem, with hierarchy, labyrinth corridors, strange characters, intimidating people and settings, and a whole lot of challenge. Jane could be herself here: resilient, resourceful, smart, and rising up to overcome a rocky start in life. And here she could find her Edward, now the temperamental managing partner of the firm, just as eccentric and grumpy ruling over boardrooms and courtrooms as he was being lord of the manor ruling over Thornfield.
The idea, once it took root, wouldn’t leave me alone. Jane wouldn’t leave me alone, crisscrossing the centuries as my imaginings grew, so that the drawing room party at Thornfield became the company holiday party, inheritance struggles became modern financial scams, and social snobbery became - well that one always exists, doesn’t it? - but now it could be channeled through some gossipy character in Human Resources. In reimagining the story there was so much to translate, some ideas outmoded, others still glaringly relevant: the context had to shift from the unrecognizable 18th century repressive views imposed by social and religious norms, toward 21st century obstacles of workplace and equality norms in a post MeToo world.
But Jane Eyre is still the same woman, still the same amazing character, and that’s what drives the story.
That’s why we have so many great adaptations, spin-offs, and reimagined versions of the classics. No matter the changes or updates, brilliantly drawn characters like Jane endure. Their conflicts endure.
During the early months of 2020 I finally put pen to paper and let Jane out, and the result is my debut novel, Jane & Edward. I hope Jane is happy in her new setting, and I hope readers enjoy watching her and Edward and their romance, learning to navigate the mess that is love and attraction and family, with longing looks, not across the drawing room, but this time over the cubicle wall.
A Modern Reimagining of Jane Eyre
This powerful reimagining of Jane Eyre, set in a modern-day law firm, is full of romance and hope as it follows the echoing heartbeats of the classic story.
A former foster kid, Jane has led a solitary life as a waitress in the suburbs, working hard to get by. Tired of years of barely scraping together a living, Jane takes classes to become a legal assistant and shortly after graduating accepts a job offer at a distinguished law firm in downtown Toronto. Everyone at the firm thinks she is destined for failure because her boss is the notoriously difficult Edward Rosen, the majority stakeholder of Rosen, Haythe & Thornfield LLP. But Jane has known far worse trials and refuses to back down when economic freedom is so close at hand.
Edward has never been able to keep an assistant—he’s too loud, too messy, too ill-tempered. There’s something about the quietly competent, delightfully sharp-witted Jane that intrigues him though. As their orbits overlap, their feelings begin to develop—first comes fondness and then something more. But when Edward’s secrets put Jane’s independence in jeopardy, she must face long-ignored ghosts from her past and decide if opening her heart is a risk worth taking.
Women's Fiction Contemporary | Romance Contemporary [Berkley, On Sale: March 21, 2023, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593440773 / eISBN: 9780593440780]
Melodie Edwards has a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto, a Master’s degree in communications from McMaster University and Syracuse University (2023), and studied comedy writing at the Second City Training Centre. Her writing has been featured in Writer’s Digest, GI60 UK Theatre Festival, the Austin Film Festival Playwright Competition, and the Hart House Drama Festival.
She believes the importance of tea and biscuits while writing cannot be overstated.
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