I first encountered Jane Eyre in my 12th Grade AP Lit class and I absolutely fell in love with the book. Poor, abused Jane clawing her way out of poverty, finding companionship with Miss Temple (even at 16 and somewhat naive, I had the sense that the nature of Jane's relationship with Miss Temple was more romantic than collegial), and of course, her doomed love affair with Edward Rochester made my heart go pitter-pat.

For over 40 years, Jane Eyre has been my go-to comfort read, although nowadays, I tended to skip the torture porn of her early years at Lowood School and the long drawn out time with St. John Rivers, who is a real incel creep.