Ironskin

The central character of Ironskin is Jane Eliot. She was injured by a fey bomb towards the end of the Great War trying to save her brother. The injury causes her to leak her curse and project that emotion onto others - her's being rage.

The effects of the curse can be countered by iron and consequently Jane wears an iron mask that stops the curse from affecting others but does cause those emotions to build up inside her and others like her with no outlet.

Jane struggles to keep employment before accepting a governess job where she believes the child could use her help. This her entry into the mysterios world of Mr Rochart and the foreboding Silver Birches.

Ironskin is a retelling of Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre is a book I treasure and have gone back to many times. I have also been sympathetic to retellings and additions to the 'Eyre' canon - in particular I find Wide Sargasso Sea an essential 'prequel' and puts a significant twist on the original.

I am not sure how this novel would work if the reader was unfamiliar with Eyre and I suspect that many people who love Eyre would not identify with Connolly's Jane - they are not particualrly similar. What does work particualrly well is Bronte's Rochester. Mr Rochart is mysterious, sinister, and has a sense of foreboding and menace - he also seems despite appearances to be rather weak willed. I recognised the character instantly and how the two Janes in the two novels view their unobtainable love interest is very similar.

Silver Birches is an effective Thornfield. The manor house seems labyrinthine, foreboding and threatening. What happens in the house and what Mr Rochart does is a mystery. Connolly handles the environment of the house and surrounding area well. Even though it seems a relatively short journey to 'civilisation' the house and surrounding area seems desolate. The nearby forest seems to slowly but surely edge itself closer to the house - ever more threateningly. This is one of the key strengths of the novel for me.

Romance is perhaps the wrong word for it but the tension and increased feelings between Jane and Rochart is handled really well. I really felt the electricity between them as every touch, glance or word spoken seemed to increase the sexual tension between them. When the seemingly impropable yet inevitable happens the reader does share that release of passion - for a novel that deals with the release of pent-up emotion this is another well handled area.

Perhaps the only significant let down for Eyre readers is that if you're aware of the 'secret' in Jane Eyre you can see the secret in Ironskin coming from afar.

The fey are an interesting take on fairies and I like the idea that although they are bound to nature and have always been in the world they are by no means sitting ducks for enviromental expolitation. They fight back and they fight back hard. Another novel could be written about the fey but here they are presented as a genuine threat to humanity. I recently read Among Others by Jo Walton and it's interesting to compare the two novels to see how fairies use humans to save their environment.

There's an interesting idea about beauty and what it is. The novel could be a critique of plastic surgery. On another level the novel also encourages the reader to think about the 'masks' people wear themselves and the image we present to others. It isn't as simple a message of 'removing the mask to find the real you' as the 'mask' can help or hinder us.

Jane's desire to be beautiful is an interesting twist. Early n the novel you are hoping for others to accept Jane for what she is or for Rochart to love her no matter what she looks like. For Jane to be beautiful almost suggests that it is actually necessary for women to be viewed as 'fey beautiful'. What I did like about this is that Jane chooses not to accept the cards she has been dealt. When she realises she can use her emotions and will to influence others she becomes empowered. She makes a decision not to be scarred. I didn't read this as 'Jane needed to be beautiful to be accepted' more 'Jane chooses not to look the way she does'.

I thought this worked quite well as a stand alone novel and to a certain extent I was a little disapointed to see these characters return in a forthcoming sequel. I like Connoly's world but this novel stands well on it's own terms.