Jane Eyre Meets Pride & Prejudice

I had never heard of this novel before watching the dvd; it's one of those British books that's fame never really crossed over to America and while I enjoyed the film I thought the plot was a bit too much Jane Eyre (moody husband tied to an insane, locked away wife while falls for an embittered young woman) with a touch of Pride and Prejudice (the relationship between Sarah and Carne is pure Elizabeth/D'Arcy minus the humor and latent flirting). I didn't know this was based on an old book so I wasn't that surpised by Carnes' death, given this is how a latterday novelist probably would have wrapped up the story rather than knocking off the wife. This ending was at least atypical for a 1930's novel . Of course, Fitzgerald once wrote there are really only two or three original stories but this one underlines that fact though it was nevertheless a good tale.