How did the idea to approach Jane Eyre with an erotic twist pique your imagination?
I’ve read the classic many times, at school and in University, later where I had studied English Literature. While in school, we would snigger and giggle about the story as it was always suggested that the content had an erotic sub-text. In fact, later at University, I wrote a big essay on the eroticism between Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre. The idea was at the back of my mind, at all times.u00a0The phenomenon created by Fifty Shades of Grey has rekindled interest in this genre. In this case, we had a virginal story where Jane Eyre was out of depths with an older man. My publisher was excited when I shared the idea. It came across as so much fun, and naughty too, though the intent was to not make it sound deliberately cheeky or irreverent.

A still from Jane Eyre (2011) that starred Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester and Mia Wasikowska as Jane