Over the years of the Victoria Classics Book Club, our group has grown to encompass thousands of members connected by a love of reading. Below, find discussion questions for past volumes, which can be explored further on our Book Selections page. We also invite you to join the ongoing conversation on our Facebook page, where you will meet a delightful coterie of devoted readers.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
A haunting journey of self-discovery, Jane Eyre novel by Charlotte Brontë follows the travails and triumphs of a young orphaned girl whose indomitable spirit cannot be broken. During her tenure as governess to the children of the handsome Mr. Rochester, Jane falls deeply in love with her mysterious and moody employer, but dark secrets threaten to swallow their budding romance.
During her tenure as governess to the children of the handsome Mr. Rochester, Jane falls deeply in love with her mysterious and moody employer, but dark secrets threaten to swallow their budding romance. What moments linger in your memory from this book?
Once home to a country cleric and his children—including three daughters lauded for their incomparable creative talents—this West Yorkshire manse brims with a world-class cache of artifacts that speaks to the enduring allure of the literary life.
Learn more about the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
Is this passage of Victoria Classics Book Club selection Jane Eyre, we get a glimpse into the title character’s restless nature: “I climbed the three staircases, raised the trapdoor of the attic, and having reached the leads, looked out afar over sequestered field and hill, and along dim sky-line—that then I longed for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen.” Why do you think Jane finds freedom on the roof of Thornfield? Do you have a place where you go to feel a similar feeling of liberty?
Throughout our Victoria Classics Book Club selection, Jane Eyre, the quality of fare enjoyed by the protagonist reflects the changing circumstances of her station in life. In Chapter 17, while the heroine serves as governess at Thornfield Hall, she relates an occasion when the housekeeper calls upon her to assist in preparing food for a grand event: “Mrs. Fairfax had pressed me into her service, and I was all day in the storeroom, helping (or hindering) her and the cook; learning to make custards and cheesecakes, and French pastry.” What are some of your favorite treats to enjoy as you curl up to a book? We have some of our own we would love to share with you in this trio of desserts honoring Jane Eyre.
If you have read Jane Eyre more than once, do you remember your initial impressions? How has the novel impacted you in different phases of your life?
Long after you have closed Jane Eyre, what scenes will linger in your mind?
Find Victoria Classics Book Club resources—including discussion questions, companion materials, and a reader forum—at Victorimag.com!