Alison Larkin Presents: Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden characters

Appears from the start

An orphan who grows from an abused, dependent child into an educated governess determined to keep both her conscience and her independence. Her first story follows her search for work, family, and a form of love that does not require self-erasure.

Appears from the start

Jane's aunt at Gateshead, who has raised her reluctantly and favors her own children. She interprets Jane's self-defense as ingratitude and sends her away to school with a damaging account of her character.

First appears in chapter 5

Jane's closest friend at Lowood School. Thoughtful, patient, and seriously ill, she meets punishment with a religious acceptance that challenges Jane's instinct to resist every injustice.

First appears in chapter 14

The owner of Thornfield Hall and guardian of Jane's pupil Adèle. Restless, commanding, and impatient with convention, he values Jane's direct intelligence even though differences of age, wealth, and authority place them on unequal ground.

Also known as Adèle

First appears in chapter 11

Jane's lively French pupil at Thornfield and Rochester's ward. Her enthusiasm for presents, clothes, and performance contrasts with Jane's more disciplined childhood.

Also known as Bertha Mason

First appears in chapter 26

Rochester's living wife, confined at Thornfield after years of severe mental illness and violent behavior. Her concealed existence is exposed at Jane and Rochester's wedding and makes the attempted marriage unlawful.

First appears in chapter 30

A disciplined clergyman who helps Jane after she flees Thornfield. He is preparing for missionary work in India and tends to judge personal feeling by whether it serves the duty he has chosen.

First appears in chapter 39

A sour, neglected English girl raised in colonial India by parents who scarcely notice her. Orphaned by an epidemic, she is sent to her uncle's Yorkshire estate, where solitude and curiosity begin to change her.

First appears in chapter 40

The housekeeper charged with escorting Mary to Misselthwaite Manor. Severe and practical, she warns Mary that the immense house has many locked rooms and that her absent uncle does not wish to be disturbed.

First appears in chapter 42

A friendly young housemaid from a large moorland family. Her plain speech and lack of fear surprise Mary, while her stories of the moor, her brother Dickon, and her sensible mother open a wider world to the isolated child.

First appears in chapter 42

An elderly gardener at Misselthwaite, gruff with people but trusted by a robin. He recognizes Mary's loneliness because it resembles his own and becomes one of her first reluctant companions.

First appears in chapter 45

Martha's younger brother, a moorland boy with an unusual ease around animals and growing things. Cheerful, capable, and discreet, he helps Mary understand how to bring a neglected garden back to life.

First appears in chapter 51

Mary's cousin, hidden in a distant bedroom because the household treats him as a fragile invalid. Intelligent but frightened and imperious, he expects to become deformed and die, beliefs reinforced by years of secrecy and anxious attention.

First appears in chapter 45

Mary's uncle and Colin's father, owner of Misselthwaite Manor. Grief over his wife's death has made him avoid both his home and his son, and he keeps her beloved garden locked because its memories are painful.

Also known as Mrs Sowerby

First appears in chapter 46

Martha and Dickon's warm, practical mother. Though her large family has little money, Martha describes her as sensible and caring, and her advice encourages the lonely Mary to spend time outdoors.