The title character begins the story as a young girl from Iceland, who moves in with her aunt and uncle in Scotland after the early death of both her parents. Her uncle is kind to her, but after his death, she is exposed to abuse and unkindness from her aunt and cousins. She jumps at the chance to attend Claypoole boarding school under a scholarship, and looks forward to beginning a new life of opportunity. However, conditions at the school are hard and work and bullying from the other girls dominate her years there. When Gemma is seventeen, the school goes bankrupt and she is successful in applying for an au pair position on the Orkney Islands. The uncle of the eight year old girl she looks after is handsome, rich and single, and the two are attracted to each other. Yet there are more twists and turns to come, including a journey to her native Iceland.
The Flight of Gemma Hardy is advertised as “a captivating homage to Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre'”. For anyone, like me, who hasn’t read ‘Jane Eyre’ in the last fifteen years, here’s a summary of the plot (courtesy of Wikipedia):
The novel begins with a ten-year-old orphan named Jane Eyre who is living with her maternal uncle’s family. Jane’s aunt and her three children are abusive to Jane, physically and emotionally. She is finally rescued when she is allowed to attend Lowood School for Girls. The eighty pupils at Lowood are subjected to cold rooms, poor meals, and thin clothing.
After six years as a student and two years as a teacher, Jane decides to leave Lowood. She takes a governess position, teaching a young French girl. Her guardian Mr. Rochester and Jane enjoy each other’s company and spend many hours together. On a midsummer evening, he proclaims his love for Jane and proposes. But during the wedding ceremony, Mr. Mason and a lawyer declare that Mr. Rochester cannot marry because he is still married to Mr. Mason’s sister Bertha. Mr. Rochester admits this is true, but explains that his father tricked him into the marriage for her money. Jane leaves Thornfield in the middle of the night…… sound similar so far?!
I’m liking
I enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first, perhaps because the characters were more believable and perhaps also because the conditions were less unrelentingly gloomy. One thing after another seemed to go wrong in the first few parts of Gemma’s life! I liked the adult Gemma: her resourcefulness and determination to make the best of challenging situations. I found the parts set in Iceland really interesting and informative about the country.
Things that made me go hmmmm
The story is LONG! It spreads over five Parts, 33 chapters, and 443 pages. However, there are a lot of ‘substories’ in it I guess, and Wikipedia says the original Jane Eyre is 38 chapters and over 400 pages. I struggled with the first chapters – up till her leaving school – because the storyline was so dark and dreary, with little in it that was positive. The characters also seemed crudely drawn and not very believable, even Gemma herself. I liked her more later on though.
The conclusion
Overall a worthwhile read I think, though if you get bored with one part it would be worth skimming on till the story changes. I’d be interested in the response of anyone who is actually familiar with ‘Jane Eyre’ to see how well it does at being a ‘homage’, but the plot is certainly very similar.
