In 1995, Brookline resident Marian Yee and her husband stopped at a bookstall in Huế, Vietnam, and found the shopkeeper reading an abridged copy of "Jane Eyre" — teaching herself English one page at a time.

"I was so interested in that very unexpected juxtaposition, because Jane Eyre is this iconic Western classic and I didn't expect to see it in central Vietnam in this context," Yee told Brookline.News.

That single encounter took nearly three decades to become "4 Janes," Yee's debut novel, now on shelves at Brookline Booksmith for $16.99. Yee teaches writing, literature and visual studies at Berklee College of Music.

The novel follows Jane Eyre's spirit across four parallel storylines: Jane herself as a missionary's wife sailing to India and Burma in 1851, a young Vietnamese bookseller named Trang, a time traveler grieving a lost child, and a young Vietnamese-American man in Boston whose relationship echoes the original story in unexpected ways. The settings stretch from Marseilles to India to Myanmar to Vietnam to Boston, all tied together by grief and maternal love. The first chapter doesn't waste time announcing its intentions: "Jane Eyre is dead."

Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead" retold Dickens through modern Appalachia, and Percival Everett's "James" reframed "Huckleberry Finn" from Jim's point of view — both became bestsellers. A 2026 "Wuthering Heights" film adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi has also renewed interest in the Brontë sisters. Yee sees her own approach the same way: a chance to revisit a classic through a modern lens, giving voice to characters who barely had one the first time around.

"4 Janes" is currently in stock at Brookline Booksmith. No local author event has been announced yet — check the Booksmith's events page for updates.