For a poor, parentless orphan, Jane Slayre had the remarkable good fortune to be quite lucky.
Even the original Jane Eyre was herself quite lucky too. But is lucky something that both Jane Eyre and Jane Slayre were born with? Or can lucky be cultivated, drawn out intentionally? I think it can.
After reading Jane Slayre, I’m still in awe of the number of connections, chance meetings, and lucky that befalls our heroine Jane. She lived with vampyres; hence, she understood their mannerisms, preferences, feasting habits to recognize them. While the reader may not see this as lucky (certainly not the birth lottery that we would all desire), it does help her save the lives of her friends and a whole village. Of course, her slaying skills do reunite her with a few family members bereft of fortune, but she is lucky. Her luck made her cousins lucky too.
Those closest to Jane always benefit from her luck.
Well, those whom Jane admires always benefit. Not necessarily those closest in physical proximity. The undead and vampyres didn’t feel so lucky with stakes and clubs ending their damned existence. But those who loved Jane benefitted from her lucky nature. Sophie excelled while under Jane’s instruction. Rochester found his true love and finally did something about his bat shit crazy werewolf wife (of course, the house wasn’t a turn of luck, but Jane wasn’t there, now was she?) Even Jane’s bitchy vampyre aunt repents and is set free from the vampyre curse.
But Jane’s luck wasn’t all mystical cosmic fortune. Some of it was simply hard work.
If she hadn’t sharpened her stakes, if hadn’t placed the advertisement for a situation in a private home, if she hadn’t sought out Miss Temple, perhaps, her luck wouldn’t have been so great in the rest of the book.
What do you think was Jane Slayre lucky or not?