It feels as if I can hear the scratching sound of a pencil scribbling on paper from somewhere. Charlotte Brontë. She is writing *Jane Eyre*. And Sheila Kohler, the author of this book, portrays Charlotte's life, presenting a highly accomplished biographical novel. While she must have done extensive research for the work, what was most surprising was the author's structural prowess and imagination in driving the story. In truth, it would have been difficult to know the specific details of what

The story of *Becoming Jane Eyre* is a novel. What distinguishes it from other writings is that it imagines Charlotte Brontë, her sisters, and their family, showing the process by which the novel *Jane Eyre* came into being. The imagination of "what if" tells us a great deal. In particular, it reveals that Emily Brontë, Anne, and Charlotte were all born with literary talent, and that Branwell, their beloved family member, was also a young man of literature before he wasted his life. It is a

Among the novels that helped me endure the turbulent and intense years of my middle school days, the absolute masterpiece was *Jane Eyre*. Watching Jane Eyre—who lost her parents at a young age and lived with her uncle—overcome hardships to eventually win love, I felt as though I had discovered a ray of light in the darkness of my childhood that seemed like it would never lift. Later, even while reading the somber and sorrowful novel *Wuthering Heights*, I did not learn until much later that

I believe I read Jane Eyre back in middle school. Although 30 years have already passed, it remains a work that has left a powerful lingering impression on my heart. Of course, I do not recall the full details; however, it is true that her strength, passion, and the madness of the "mad wife" still leave vivid traces in my memory. That is why, whenever asked which book has impressed me the most, I always answer Jane Eyre. It is also a book I recommend my daughter to read. Yet, it has become

*Jane Eyre* and *Wuthering Heights* are classics I was forced to read as assignments from my homeroom teacher during my school days. Although I wrote book reports on them, my memory is hazy; they were just another run-of-the-mill classic that briefly lingered in my mind before fading away. However, I was reminded of them once again after encountering the story of the Brontë sisters on a TV program—three writers from the same family who were successful as authors but unfortunate as women. The

Summer of 1846, Manchester—in a boarding house in the industrial city, Reverend Patrick Brontë, nearing seventy, is staying after cataract surgery, cared for by his daughter Charlotte and a nurse. Forgetting the cold and hunger by her father's side, she occasionally writes her own work. Having become the eldest after the death of her two older brothers, she thinks of her younger brother Branwell, the pillar and hope of the family, and her two younger sisters, Emily and Anne. She is in a state