Eight writers respond to Charlotte Bronte's classic novel Jane Eyre. Remember Jane Eyre? The young orphan girl persecuted by her foster family and locked in the terrifying red room? The schoolgirl who watches her best friend die in the brutal conditions of Lowood School? The new governess who comes to the mysterious big country house and encounters the dark and brooding Mr Rochester? The Mr Rochester who locked his mad first wife in the attic? Since it was first published in 1847, Jane Eyre has become one of the most popular novels in English. The romance of plain Jane Eyre and the handsome Mr Rochester is one of the most enduring in literature. Susan Geason has assembled a fascinating collection of writers who have been inspired by Jane Eyre: Rosie Scott the New Zealand-born-Australian-resident author of Movie Dreams and other acclaimed novels, writes a passionate essay about the cruelties of Jane Eyre's childhood. Amy Witting, the highly regarded Australian author of The Visit and I for Isobel, contributes fiction in the form of a series of letters to Jane Eyre from her friend Mary Ann Wilson, and provides a picture of how another young woman in Jane Eyre's place may have turned out. Carmel Bird - you'll all know Carmel from having sold her new book Automatic Teller (Oct 96), the revised Dear Writer (June 96) and the reissue of Bluebird Cafe. (All in Vintage.) In her inimitable, quirky, witty style, Carmel imagines a conversation with Jane Eyre about how she has been interpreted down the years. Jean Bedford, author of the novels Sister Kate and If With a Beating Heart, updates Jane Eyre's story in a spellbinding piece of fiction. Juliet Barker is the author of the biography The Brontes, and gives us the background to Charlotte Bronte's own childhood and its influence on Jane Eyre. Lyndal Gordon is Charlotte Bronte's biographer, and this extract from her biography discusses the writing of Jane Eyre. Bev Raphael is a psychologist who works with abused children and does grief counselling. In a fascinating essay she examines Jane Eyre as a case study of an abused child. Morag Fraser is the editor of Eureka Street magazine and is writing a piece of fiction inspired by Jane Eyre. THE EDITOR: Born in Tasmania and now living in Sydney, Susan Geason is a freelance writer and books editor of the Sydney Sun-Herald newspaper. Educated in Australia and Canada, where she did an MA in political theory, she has been a researcher, journalist and government policy adviser. She is the author of the Syd Fish series of detective novels (Shaved Fish, Dogfish, and Shark Bait) published by Allen & Unwin, and of the thriller Wildfire, published in Arrow last year. SELLING POINTS: * Jane Eyre is one of the classics of English literature, loved by millions. This anthology will appeal to everyone who enjoyed Charlotte Bronte's novel. * Even though the recent film of Jane Eyre (starring The Piano's Anna Paquin) was only a modest success, it got good media coverage and Jane Eyre has been in the spotlight. * Regarding Jane Eyre is both a celebration of the novel and a chance to explore some of its darker aspects – and to have some fun. (What if someone of Jane's character had lived in today's world? Why was Jane obsessed with furnishings? What does she really think of the films made of the book?) * A terrific line-up of contributors, including first-grade Australian fiction writers like Jean Bedford, Carmel Bird, Rosie Scott and Amy Witting, plus Bronte biographers and a psychologist. * Published in time for Mother's Day – the perfect up-market gift.