Hello and welcome to Storytime for grownups.

I'm Faith Moore, and this season we're reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Each episode, I'll read one chapter from the book,

pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along.

It's like an audiobook with built-in notes.

So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair,

and settle in. It's story time. Oh my goodness. Chapter 26.

Aye, yeah, yeah, you guys. All right, here we are at the beginning of episode 27 of Storytime for Grownups. Welcome.

I'm thrilled to be here with you because we must learn what happens next, right?

I got so many letters from you as I knew I would after Chapter 26.

And the thing I love most about the letters that I got this time is the absolute outpouring of sadness

for Jane. I am so moved by your feelings for her. What a wonderful thing, right? To be so involved

in a story that a plot twist like we had in Chapter 26 can actually pull at your heartstrings.

That, not some sort of intellectual analysis of the book, that is what makes a good book. And I'm so glad that you're

here along for the ride with me. Now, of course, Chapter 26 is the chapter in which we learn that Mr. Rochester is married already,

that this is his secret, this is the thing that we didn't know about him, that was holding him back,

that was holding us back, the thing that means that this is not the fade to black kiss under

the chestnut tree moment because, in fact, they can't be married.

He is married already. I got a lot of logistical questions this time, questions about divorce

laws in Victoria England, and how Rochester could have ended up in this marriage in the first

place, and how insane people were treated back that, et cetera, et cetera, and those are

fantastic questions. But most of them are going to actually

...