Serena’s Review: “Salt & Broom”

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Book: “Salt & Broom” by Sharon Lynn Fisher

Publishing Info: 47North, December 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: A gifted healer unravels the mysteries of a cursed estate—and its enigmatic owner—in a witchy retelling of Jane Eyre .

“Salt and broom, make this room
Safe and tight, against the night.”

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls’-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her. The threats mount around both Jane and Rochester—who’s becoming more intriguing and appealing to her by the day. Jane begins to fear her herb healing and protective charms may not be enough to save the man she’s growing to love from a threat darker and more dangerous than either of them imagined.

Review: No, your memory is not failing you: Kate, not me, was the one to include this book in her Highlights post back in December! But this is a perfect example of the sort of book that has cross-over appeal for Kate and I. For one thing, we both love “Jane Eyre” and thusly any “Jane Eyre” retellings are automatically appealing to us both. From there, I imagine she looked at this one and saw “witchy cozy horror,” and I looked at it and saw “witchy cozy fantasy,” and in truth, it’s a little bit of both. Never fear, however, I didn’t poach this one from her! She confirmed that she didn’t have a full review planned, so I was in the clear!

“Jane Eyre” is a tough nut to crack as far as re-tellings go. I think both Jane and Mr. Rochester are fairly complicated characters in their own right, and their romance is by no means straight forward or easy. But I have to commend Fisher for the version she presents here! This book walks the perfect tight-rope of hitting the main story beats that one expects from a “Jane Eyre” story, while also completely re-imagining large chunks of the story to fit in a fantasy world where witches, ghosts, and fairies exist. It would be very easy for either side of this balance to shift and throw the entire book into disarray, but that’s not a concern here! Instead, the book confidently moves forward in the world its has created, trusting the reader to strike this balance as well. I was also impressed with the overall style and tone of the writing, as capturing the specific “voice” and manner of speaking can be a challenge when adapting older works like this. Again, this ability to capture this tone was all the more impressive since you had to pair this sort of “period piece” voice with all kinds of fantasy terms about witches and magic.

In particular, I really enjoyed the adaptations and liberties the author took with the original story. All of the main plot beats were hit (and even a few minor ones, the sort that will definitely please the fans!), but the author didn’t hold back from truly making this one her own. Several familiar characters are completely re-imagined, while others play roles that are relatively unchanged. Some fairly major plot lines are also changed, but in ways that still hold true to exploring the themes and love story of the original. This include the plot line regarding Mr. Rochester’s wife. Obviously, I don’t want to go into spoilers, but I was very impressed by how this was re-done! And, again, the magical elements tied into all of this in ways that were truly surprising! Going in, I had it in my mind that it would mostly be the same story but with Jane doing a bit of magic here and there. Nope! Major fantasy elements all over the place, but in the best ways!

I also really enjoyed this version of Jane and Rochester. Jane, especially, was a fantastic leading lady. This version captured the same spirit of independence and resolve that we see in the original, but the story also allowed her to explore themes regarding female friendships, motherhood, and family in ways that the original didn’t. Rochester was also excellent, capturing much of the same dark and broody motifs that we expect from this classic romantic hero. That said, I liked some of the updates we got to this version as the original had moments where he came off as a bit, well, jerkish. This Rochester is still reserved and mysterious, but also updated in small ways to appeal to modern romance readers. I especially loved all of the scenes where he and Jane team up to solve the magical mysteries surrounding them.

Overall, I really loved this book! It managed to take a beloved classic story and retain all that makes it great while also adding a fun fantasy spin to the proceedings. I’ll definitely be looking through this author’s back catalog to see what else she’s written and will keep any eye out for anything coming in the future! If you enjoy magical re-imaginings of classic stories, definitely check this one out!

Rating 9: Darkly romantic and mysterious, a perfect book for all “Jane Eyre” fans!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Salt & Broom” is on any relevant Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Jane Eyre Retellings.