Salt & Broom

Jane Aire leaves her sheltered girls' school on a clear October morning with trunks full of potions and cures. She is bound for Thornfield Hall, where its reclusive master, Edward Rochester, has hired her as a last resort. A shadow hangs over the house before she even arrives.

Jane struggles to win the trust of her prickly new employer and stumbles more than once along the way. Her awkward attempts at rapport soon matter less than a mysterious force that seems to work against her. The threats grow, and they reach both her and Rochester.

As the danger builds, Jane finds Rochester more intriguing and more appealing each day. Her skills are herb healing and protective charms, and she begins to doubt they can protect the man she is coming to love. What threatens him is darker and more dangerous than either of them has guessed.

This is a magical retelling of Jane Eyre, with a gothic house at its centre and a slow-growing romance between a young healer and her guarded employer. The mood is ominous and the menace rises steadily, with a charm-and-herb magic running through the story.