Dr.Polly Esther Pillow, ex-wife of former Provost Pillow has published a novel based on the life of Mrs. Scatcherd, wrongly accused mean teacher in Jane Eyre.

Inspired by Mrs. Scatcherd’s love of order and the way that her character has been so oftentimes maligned, Dr. Pillow was moved to write a novel from the teacher’s point of view. As Dr. Pillow notes in the preface to the book, she was really inspired by this passage:

“On reaching the bedroom, we heard the voice of Miss Scatcherd: she was examining drawers; she had just pulled out Helen Burns’s, and when we entered Helen was greeted with a sharp reprimand, and told that to-morrow she should have half-a-dozen of untidily folded articles pinned to her shoulder. “My things were indeed in shameful disorder,” murmured Helen to me, in a low voice: “I intended to have arranged them, but I forgot.” Next morning, Miss Scatcherd wrote in conspicuous characters on a piece of pasteboard the word “Slattern,” and bound it like a phylactery round Helen’s large, mild, intelligent, and benign-looking forehead.”

Scatchered is being optioned for a film to be produced by Willard College graduate and independent film maker, Jason Spiker