New Release: Texts from Jane Eyre by Mallory Ortberg

Here’s a brilliant bit of literary snobbery meets the 21st century: imagine what your favorite classic book characters would be like if they lived today and had access to social media.

Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations With Your Favorite Literary Characters
(click this link and you can download a PDF excerpt from the book website)
Mallory Ortberg
Henry Holt and Co., Hardcover, 9781627791830, $23

Publisher Description:

Hilariously imagined text conversations—the passive aggressive, the clever, and the strange—from classic and modern literary figures, from Scarlett O’Hara to Jessica Wakefield

Mallory Ortberg, the co-creator of the cult-favorite website The Toast, presents this whimsical collection of hysterical text conversations from your favorite literary characters. Everyone knows that if Scarlett O’Hara had an unlimited text-and-data plan, she’d constantly try to tempt Ashley away from Melanie with suggestive messages. If Mr. Rochester could text Jane Eyre, his ardent missives would obviously be in all-caps. And Daisy Buchanan would not only text while driving, she’d text you to pick her up after she totaled her car. Based on the popular web-feature, Texts from Jane Eyre is a witty, irreverent mashup that brings the characters from your favorite books into the twenty-first century.

Here are two lovely little videos where the author chats about her inspiration for the book and her favorite characters:

“It’s an equal mix of love and teasing.”

“I love it when women are creepy and weird.”

For more from the author, check her out on Twitter.