February 6, 2017
Jane Eyre was no Hawaiian surfer girl, but her story provides the framework for Gagnon’s clever update of the Brontë classic. Janie Mason, forced to leave Kona after her parents are killed in a helicopter crash, finds herself in the gloomy San Francisco mansion of the Rochester family, her new guardians. She’s coolly welcomed by matriarch Marion, who seems to detest her on sight, and imposing patriarch Richard. The only friendly Rochester is six-year-old Nicholas, but Janie errs by mentioning Eliza, learning too late that she’s Nicholas’s recently deceased twin (with whom he still regularly converses). School isn’t any better, though Janie eventually meets a boy, Daniel, who has baggage and bad blood with the Rochesters. Gagnon (Don’t Let Go) plays up the gaslighting element of the story well: when things start going bump in the night, Janie isn’t sure if she’s losing her mind or if someone is trying to make her believe she is, perhaps even the newly arrived Rochester bad boy, John. Fully rounded characters and abundant suspense help Gagnon’s novel hold its own amid other contemporary Eyre reimaginings. Ages 14–up. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine, Greenburg, Rostan.
January 15, 2017
Newly orphaned Janie Mason moves from the Hawaii she loves to a chilly mansion in San Francisco, home of the strangers her parents named as her legal guardians: the Rochesters.The Rochesters, a white family, prove cold and unfriendly, as does their Filipina housekeeper, despite the fact that Janie's biracial: part Filipina, part white. Only the youngest Rochester, Nicholas, is friendly. Visiting her opulent room, he puzzles her with comments about his invisible twin sister. His father, Richard, Janie's legal guardian and an old friend of her father, scares Janie. Richard's wife, Marion, clearly detests her but complies with his orders, enrolling Janie in their daughter's private school, where Janie struggles to keep up. When her surfboard and wetsuit arrive from Hawaii, Janie heads to the beach, where she connects with a hot boy from school. At home, Janie's sleep is interrupted by strange sounds from the attic; someone rifles through her possessions when she's out. Older brother John, expelled from school, arrives and precipitates a family crisis that somehow involves Janie. The pace accelerates, suspense builds, and stakes mount to a denouement dished up with a side order of Gothic excess. If some questions go unanswered, genre fans won't mind. Jane Eyre has inspired retellings from literary gems to pallid retreads; Gagnon's version stands up to the competition, slyly toying with readers' expectation to surprising, entertaining effect. (Suspense. 12-16)
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March 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-San Francisco is a world away from Hawaii for surfer Janie, whose parents have just died. Her new guardians, the Rochesters, are an old money family with buried secrets and old feuds. Janie has a hard time processing her guardians' silent, formal dinners. Everyone fears patriarch Richard Rochester's explosive temper, and Marian Rochester makes it no secret that she does not want Janie in her house. Daughter Georgina is a textbook mean girl, and oldest son John is the family's good-hearted black sheep, who bows to his father's will. When Janie hears strange screams and noises coming from the attic, youngest son Nicholas spins stories of his dead sister, Eliza, and swears that her ghost tells him to do things. Janie vows to discover the "ghost" and solve the mystery of the disturbed house. Failing family fortunes, wails in the night, bizarre dreams, and a fire that nearly kills her all convince Janie that the Rochesters are up to no good. Unfortunately, this Janie is a mere shadow of Jane Eyre: she does not have the original character's fire, spirit, or strength. Love interest Daniel comes off as weak and needy, and his breakup with Janie is ludicrous. The well-plotted gothic elements, however, will entertain many readers. VERDICT While the characterizations are uneven, teens who like gothic fiction will find this enjoyable. A secondary purchase for high school collections.-Pamela Thompson, Col. John O. Ensor Middle School, El Paso, TX
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 15, 2017
Grades 8-11 Janie Mason's life is shattered after the death of her parents in this latest take on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. The terms of her father's will unexpectedly reveal that Janie must live with new legal guardians, the mysterious Rochesters. The bizarre chill of their welcome is echoed in the spooky vibe of their ostentatious mansion, where the only friendly soul is Nicholas, a sad little boy who speaks of his dead twin sister as if she were still alive. The rest of the household consists of a father who simmers with repressed violence, a mother who is almost certainly insane, a mean-girl daughter, and a rogue son. While these characters are regrettably limited to stereotypes, the suspenseful tone of gothic horror is true to the original story. Jane Eyre fans will enjoy picking out the commonalities: Janie is bereft and alone, frightened by voices in the night, and befriended by a girl named Helen. Fate handles her roughly, but like the original Jane, our Janie discovers an inner fortitude. Hand to fans of Lois Duncanstyle mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2017
After Janie's parents die, she's sent to live with the Rochester family in San Francisco. Excessive wealth can't mask the many disturbances in the family, and Janie exposes new secrets at every turn. Financial corruption, mental illness, crime, and a misunderstood ghost contribute to this Jane Eyre retelling that is rich in details borrowed from Brontk but is never as subtle or emotionally taut.
(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)