Page 21 - Julie Thorley Nine Lives book

4. The Reader
The speaker is a Victorian businessman on the wrong side of middle age, with formal clothes and demeanour.
Good day to you. I have been a reader with this estimable publishing house for many years now and I pride myself on being attuned to public sensibilities. My employers trust me to make the correct decisions as to which stories could be of interest and, importantly, of value to our customers. I am, you might say, an arbiter of taste.
A story recently came to my attention by a Mr Bell of Yorkshire that was so audacious in its theme that it left me quite breathless. Simply put, it was un t for publication and I took pains to ensure that none of my junior colleagues had sight of it for fear of corrupting them. It has been swiftly returned to the place from whence it came.
The novel in question was titled Jane Eyre. While the manner of its writing was pleasing enough on a technical level, I had grave misgivings about the tale’s content, and, indeed, I can only speculate about the members of the fairer sex with whom its author might have come into contact.
Consider it. A plain-looking young woman of humble beginnings contrives to behave in a manner that simply beggars belief. Is the reader to be expected to concur with the conceit that a penniless orphan would not only want to leave the security of a good and charitable school, named in the tale as Lowood Asylum, but also that she would be able to accomplish this by her own mental acuity and ambition? No man in his right mind could accept this preposterous premise.
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