Some works, such as thehokily landscape-like Storm Front, adhere too closely to the pictorial, yet Zipt is an exception, flaunting its contours like curves through a skintight dress.

To retain the personal perspective, they have Jane narrate her tale to us, addressing us somewhathokily as "gentle audience." Most of the novel's unforgettable Gothic incidents are here: the orphaned Jane's cruel treatment at the hands of her aunt and her spoiled, sadistic cousin; further humiliation at the Lowood school, where she is befriended by the angelic Helen Burns, who then departs -- lickety-split -- to join her immortal brethren; and, of course,