Texas school districts ban Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre

Four public school districts in Texas have banned the Victorian romance novel Jane Eyre, PEN America reported on 9 October 2026. The organization noted that the classic work has gained an infamous new place in the state's history following the decisions by local education authorities. [1]

Written by English novelist and poet Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre was first published on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder and Company of London under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Harper and Brothers of New York published the first American edition in January 1848. The bildungsroman traces the growth of its eponymous heroine into adulthood and her relationship with Mr Rochester, the master of Thornfield Hall. [2][4]

The restrictions in Texas join a broader trend of book challenges across American primary and secondary state schools, which are government-operated institutions funded by public taxation. As FTMQ Books reported earlier, PEN America recorded a record number of banned books in 2026. [3][5]