Following in the footsteps of 50 Shades of Grey, an author is sexing up Charlotte Bronte's classic. Now coming: Jane Eyre Laid Bare. Oh no.

In case you didn't know – where have you been? – 50 Shades of Grey (by E.L. James) has swept the world's bookshelves and is titillating women across South Africa right now. Ten million copies have been sold overseas already and, locally, the book nabbed a top 3 spot on Exclusive Books' bestseller list.  So it makes sense that more "mommy porn" would follow right? But why would anyone want to rewrite Jane Eyre?

Okay, so I might be a bit of a book snob, but I really think that Charlotte Bronte's classic should be left as is.

"I think that readers through the ages have appreciated the smouldering sexual chemistry between Jane and Rochester," says author of Jane Eyre Laid Bare, Eve Sinclair.

Eve Sinclair is right. That "smouldering sexual chemistry" is undeniable in the original retelling and it's what gives the book a touch of salaciousness. The secret was in the "smouldering", the feeling of something just about to brim over, the subtle phrasing which builds up to the point where Bronte writes: "Reader, I married him." Oh, that sentence. The emotions that arose in me…

All that simmering tension!

So, I'm not convinced I want to hear about Edward Rochester's "throbbing member" or Jane Eyre's "quivering mound of love pudding" (a delightful phrase we discovered through @Ed_Kurz_Bleeds). Jane Eyre is one read that should be left as is, I think. Then again, there is a book called My Darcy Vibrates, so one can only expect the debauchery of classic fiction to continue.

Read our review of 50 Shades of Grey here.

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Do you think Jane Eyre needed a sexed up rewrite?
  By: Kele Scheppers