Plot: A sensitive orphan, Jane Steele suffers first at the hands of her spiteful aunt and predatory cousin, then at a grim school where she fights for her very life until escaping to London, leaving the corpses of her tormentors behind her. After years of hiding from the law while penning macabre “last confessions” of the recently hanged, Jane thrills at discovering an advertisement. Her aunt has died and her childhood home has a new master: Mr. Charles Thornfield, who seeks a governess.
Burning to know whether she is in fact the rightful heir, Jane takes the position incognito and learns that Highgate House is full of marvelously strange new residents—the fascinating but caustic Mr. Thornfield, an army doctor returned from the Sikh Wars, and the gracious Sikh butler Mr. Sardar Singh, whose history with Mr. Thornfield appears far deeper and darker than they pretend. As Jane catches ominous glimpses of the pair’s violent history and falls in love with the gruffly tragic Mr. Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: Can she possess him—body, soul, and secrets—without revealing her own murderous past?
Content warnings: Sexual assault, domestic violience and child abuse, drugs and alcohol abuse, death of a parent, war themes
This group meets monthly on the first Wednesday from 4:30-6:00 PM PST & is a hybrid meeting.
Participants have the option of Zoom. It’s open to everyone ages 18+, with folks 50+ strongly encouraged to attend!
Thank you to our partners at San Mateo County Libraries for co-hosting this group with us!
Register using this link – tinyurl.com/smcpcbookclub
If you would like more information about the Pride Center’s peer support groups, please contact Ishani (They/Xem) at Ishani.Dugar@sanmateopride.org or 650-554-1234 (text ok)