Today I have a very special guest. Eve Marie Mont is here today to talk about what inspired her to write A Breath of Eyre!
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Why the Classics
Still Inspire Me
Ever since I read
Jane Eyre in high school, I’ve been
obsessed with Jane and Rochester’s story. Like many girls, I fell for the romance
first, but Jane Eyre is so much more
than a romance. It’s a coming of age story about a girl who must learn to trust
and love herself before she can give her heart to another. The book also touches
on issues of morality and religion, gender relations, class distinctions, child
abuse, mental illness, education, and personal autonomy. It is rich and complex
and moving, and that’s one of the reasons I love it.
A few years ago, I
began writing A Breath of Eyre because
I wanted an excuse to linger in Jane Eyre’s
pages, to consider the characters and their decisions from a modern
perspective. And what better way to do that than to send a modern girl,
literally, into the novel? There is a danger, however, in taking a universally
adored story and using it for your own purposes; readers will either love you
or hate you for it. And often it will be the most ardent fans of the original
who become the most ardent critics of the remake.
Consequently, it
took me a long time to give myself permission to take Brontë’s story and make
it my own, but once I added an element of magic, I let myself loose and the
writing became a joy. While I use some of
Brontë’s text verbatim, most of the Jane
Eyre scenes have been recreated to show a modern girl’s reaction to being
thrust into a nineteenth-century world: how does she respond to using a chamber
pot, being without cell phone or computer or electricity, being wooed by a much
older man with some very outdated attitudes toward women? And what does Emma
learn by stepping into the shoes of Jane, a heroine who is strong, intelligent,
moral, and unafraid to speak her mind?
The result is not
so much a time travel novel as a coming of age story with a paranormal twist. While
Jane Eyre plays a large role, it
doesn’t overshadow Emma’s own story. In fact, two thirds of the book takes place
in Emma’s contemporary world. Jane Eyre
serves as more of a vehicle for Emma’s growth and self-actualization, and her
time spent in Jane’s body causes her to reflect on the issues in her own life
as she determines the kind of person she wants to be.
I sincerely hope that fans of Jane Eyre will find my book a satisfying and respectful tribute to one
of my favorite novels. And for those who haven’t read Brontë’s masterpiece, I
hope my book might send them into its pages.
As for Emma, her adventures will continue this spring in A Touch of Scarlet (March 26, 2013),
inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The
Scarlet Letter, and in A Phantom
Enchantment (March, 2014), inspired by The
Phantom of the Opera and set in Paris!
Rules:
US only
13 or older to enter
Ends 11/30/2012
Links for Eve Marie
Mont’s A Touch of Scarlet, March 26,
2013 from Kensington Books
Website: http://evemariemont.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/evemariemont
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/evemariemont
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