Do you have to be a Jane Eyre fan to enjoy Gemma Hardy? Hard to say, but I'm guessing the answer is yes. 
 Sure, you could read and enjoy this tale of a brave young girl who overcomes obstacles and discovers her inner strength without ever having encountered its inspiration, but I think the overall effect would be greatly diminished. 
 The Flight of Gemma Hardy is a reimagining of Jane Eyre, which hews more or less faithfully to the overall storyline while adding in many new elements -- some more successfully than others. "Gemma" is set in Scotland in the 1950's and 1960's. The initial chapter follows Jane Eyre so closely that it was difficult for me to reconcile the description of female attire (trousers!) with the picture in my head. From the very first line of the book, readers are put on notice that the story will be familiar, but not exactly what we expect: "We did not go for a walk on the first day of the year." If you're a Jane Eyre fan, you know what I mean. 
 Gemma is a lonely orphan, despised by her aunt and cousins after her kind uncle's untimely death. Sent away to a boarding school that ends up being more of a work house, Gemma perseveres, clinging to the hope of finding a meaningful life and a family to love her. She leaves school to accept a job in the Orkney Islands as an au pair to the niece of wealthy Mr. Sinclair. And you know how it goes from there... 
 The descriptions of the Scottish Highlands and Orkney Islands are lovely, and Margot Livesey's writing is engaging and lyrical. I enjoyed the book quite a bit, with a few minor quibbles. My chief complaint is that in "Gemma", the heroine's flight from her marriage to the older man with secrets seems like an overreaction. Mr. Sinclair's wedding-day confessions are nowhere near as scandalous or shocking as Mr. Rochester's -- no madwoman lurks in the attic here. It was hard to understand why Gemma would run away so abruptly and carelessly, other than the fact that the author needed this to happen in order to mirror the events of Jane Eyre. This was the main part of the story that rang false to me, and I wish it had been otherwise. 
 Still, I did truly enjoy "The Flight of Gemma Hardy", and do think Jane Eyre fans should give it a try.