A modern tale of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester in Flushing NYC

A tale of a different Jane rather an updated version. A Korean-American Jane 

Eyre or "Jane Re,"  who hails as an orphan with an Korean mother and an American Father. Jane is sent from South Korea as a baby by her grandfather to go with her Uncle Sang and his family to Flushing, Queens. There Patricia Park's take on Jane Eyre adds a creative twist and entirely different perspective. This book takes you from Flushing, Queens where Jane a recent college graduate who plans are part on hold for not being hired by a firm, and ends up helping her Uncle with his convenience store in Flushing. Then, Jane accepts a job as a nanny for the Mazer-Farley family in Brooklyn, which is made up of the wife, a professor of women studies who is constantly looking for some sort of appreciation from everyone she is around and her husband  Ed Farley, "Mr. Rochester" who in this book was not as well developed as he could have been but in some ways I'm glad, because when Jane leaves him, I am quite happy, as I did not grow attached or like his interactions with Jane. 

Jane's escape from the Mazer-Farley family is the phone call from her Uncle Sang that her grandfather is dying, and she needs to fly to South Korea. Jane at this moment faces having slept with her employer, Ed Farley and deciding to leave to avoid facing Ed's wife. Her escape is much like a time capsule being discovered as she lands in Seoul and meets her grandfather, and her Aunt her cared for her as a baby for the first time. Her grandfather's judgmental tone and  demands he places on her Uncle Sang, causes Jane to rethink her Uncle Sang. She sees past Sang's own demanding nature and after stories of her Uncles close relationship to his sister, Jane's mother, who passed away in a fire. Jane decides to stay in South Korea with her Aunt and Elder Uncle as her American family Uncle Sang, his wife Hanna, and two children head back to the states. 

There Jane becomes an glorified English teacher, that her South Korean born colleagues feel has unfairly been hired due to her having an American background. Resentment in the workplace and dating her Korean born boyfriend. Jane, reinvents herself, by applying make-up, being in style like any Seoul girl would, and dressing up.

This desire to fit in by Jane with wearing different clothes, high heels, and makeup. Also her new boyfriend, causes her American friend, Nina a fellow nanny from Brooklyn to question Jane's authenticity to herself. She grows weary of Jane's show and quickly heads back to Brooklyn. 

Jane's journey of self discovery as she decides to travel back to Flushing to be with her Uncle Sang, and his family, to pursue a job in her field, and begins to also have grown in her relationships. She says goodbye to Ed Farley "Mr. Rochester" as she moves on, and realizes she is more than what she has pretended.

She embraces her life as Jane Re, South Korean born with an American father, being raised by her uncle as first generation Korean American in Flushing, Queens, and realizing she can be both Korean, and American. She embraces her traits, and realizes she doesn't have to choose one over the other.