Jane Eyre, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell, exploded into the English literary scene, capturing the hearts of many of the world's most prominent writers, including William Makepeace Thackeray, who called it a work "of extraordinary brilliance." Bront's masterpiece, widely recognised as a revolutionary novel, exposed the world to a radical new sort of heroine, one whose rebellious integrity and moral courage stood in stark contrast to the more acquiescent and malleable female heroines of the day. Jane Eyre is one of the world's most beloved novels because it is passionate, dramatic, and startlingly modern.