I could wax lyrical about the inner book and all that but hardly a day goes by when someone tells me how much they would like to write a book. Well, in many respects, it's never been easier to publish your own.

It's a daunting thing, adapting one of the most beloved novels in the world. Jane Eyre is a lifelong friend to many people. Like all great classics, it reveals different things at every reading. All these elements must be honoured in an adaptation; the book's still urgent politics, the Gothic haunted house and the complexity of the love story.

A magazine written by Charlotte Bronte when she was 14 has sold at auction for £690,850 - more than double the figure estimated, reports the Pres...