'Flight of Gemma Hardy' rivetingly revisits 'Jane Eyre'

How do you recast a classic? Follow Margot Livesey's lead in The Flight of Gemma Hardy, a riveting retelling of Jane Eyre that puts the familiar feminist heroine in the pre-feminist world of early 1960s Scotland. The result is distinct and even daring — and far from derivative.

It's a tricky prospect, paying (nearly) modern homage to a piece of literature that was done so right the first time, but from the first few pages, Flight soars on its own writerly wings.

Yes, Flight cuts a path through the well-worn elements etched into every high school English student's head: a doubly orphaned girl (abandoned first by her parents' deaths, then by her beloved uncle's), the cruel aunt and Gothic garrets that ostensibly enslave her, the harsh school that further tests her tenacity, the best friend who succumbs to sickness (and thus orphans Gemma yet again), the mysterious Byronic suitor (here Mr. Sinclair, vs. Mr. Rochester) who can only try to control her, the family secrets that threaten to undermine their union.

In the retelling, aspects get a fresh update: For instance, the Rivers sisters, Diana and Mary, with whom Jane takes refuge, are re-envisioned in Flight as Hannah and Pauline, a couple.

But what's striking is how smoothly plot and character meld into a setting shifted 100-plus years into the future — a testament, of course, to the enduring strength of Charlotte Brontë's seminal story.

Flight makes subtler nods to Gemma's literary predecessor. Early on, Gemma's aunt snipes that her sister-in-law, Gemma's mother, was "a plain Jane." Later, when Gemma goes into quasi-hiding from Mr. Sinclair, she adopts the name of Jane's anagrammatical alter ego, Jean.

Livesey takes the flight metaphor a tad too literally at the end, but as we cheer on the journey of her plucky, perspicacious and still-pioneering protagonist, it becomes clear that Gemma is a gem.