You cannot help but be intrigued when the first sentence in a book is: “Of all my many murders, committed for love and for better reasons, the first was the most important.” But when a book really delivers on the promise of that first sentence with a marvelously complicated plot set in early nineteenth century England and a villainess who is inventive, strong-willed and eminently likable even though morally compromised, you really can’t go wrong.

Jane Steele, unlike her “sister” in literature, Jane Eyre, (note the different last names!) is tougher, harder and unwilling to let things just happen to her. Rather she takes matters into her own hands as she battles the vicissitudes of her life. The book is told in the form of a memoir (or maybe even a confession,) so here in her own words is Jane’s introduction to her book:

It was the boarding school that taught me to act as a wolf in girl’s clothing should: skulking, a greyer shadow within a greyer landscape. It was London which formed me into a pale, wide-eyed creature with an errant laugh, a lust for life, and for dirty vocabulary, and a knife in her pocket. It was Charles who changed everything, when I fell in love with him under the burdens of false identity and a blighted conscience. The beginning of a memoir could be made in any of those places, but without my dear cousin, Edwin Barbary, none of the rest would have happened at all so I hereby commence my account with the unembellished truth:

Reader, I murdered him.

How could anyone resist? I was captivated right from the beginning by this inventive, well written, a touch ridiculous book. Given that this is Faye’s first novel, I hope and expect that we will be hearing from her much more in the future! Enjoy!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian, Lauren and Keith

Book Study Worthy: It would be a lot of fun!

Read in ebook format.

with a wonderful group of supporting characters who are unique and special in their own way,