It took me a shamefully long time to realize Hoffs' debut novel is a riff on Jane Eyre. Jane, a one-hit-wonder trying to make it many years later as a singer-songwriter, flees a bad breakup and a bad gig by hopping a plane to London. On that flight she meets her Rochester, and their relationship develops astoundingly quickly while Jane also prepares for a musical comeback. The book is full of literary references and song lyrics, and I'm positive there are many more I missed (like, say, the really BIG one I almost did!).
Modern retellings of Jane Eyre sometimes flatten Jane's morality, misunderstanding her integrity as simply a certainty in the correctness of Christianity, and try to present a more inclusive point of view; this is partly why I think Margot Livesey's novel, while thoroughly enjoyable on its own, failed as an Eyre retelling. Hoffs, on the other hand, understands that Jane's integrity is what matters. Like Livesey's novel, the antagonists are not caricatures of evil. Tom's ex does some bad things, makes some poor choices, and even starts (accidentally) a little fire, but she is neither evil nor crazy, just suffering deeply. Tom's handling of the matter is terrible, but not because he is arrogant or misogynistic; he just truly doesn't know what to do. And when Jane learns the truth, she is compassionate and understanding, but it doesn't stop her from doing what she knows is the right thing, no matter the cost to her personally. It makes her a character to root for whole-heartedly.
And it's not just in love that Jane keeps true to herself; the B-plot of the book is about her comeback performance with the mega star* who wrote the song that made her a star. Jane wants the acclaim (and, more importantly, the steady income) that a collaboration will bring, but she can't quite manage to stop wanting success on her own terms, in a way that is meaningful to her. The novel is full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but through it all Jane does not lose her core; as a result she gets what she wants, even if it doesn't quite look like what she thought.
*Clearly an analog for Prince, although I sincerely hope he was a better person to Susanna.
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