Gemma was on the run in October of 1966 as indicated when she returns to the church months later to try and find her suitcase that was taken. She addresses the minister saying, "[l]ast October I sought sanctuary in your church and someone took my suitcase" (Livesey 314). 

This sequence of events in The Flight of Gemma Hardy is very similar to those experienced by Jane in Jane Eyre. Both women flee from their beloved after unsavory secrets about their respective fiancé’s past is revealed on their wedding day. Both women are penniless, homeless, and starving. They fail repeatedly to find employment in the towns they're plopped in. Neither of them have any friends or relations that can help them. Both resort to eating food no one wants-- Jane eats the burnt porridge put out for pigs and Gemma eats from a trash can. They are both nearly on death's door by the time they're taken in by a kindly trio of two women and a man.

There are important differences in the two characters’ parallel experiences though. Jane leaves in the middle of the night with literally no money and only her suitcase (which she then forgets on the carriage). Gemma has her savings but is robbed and then loses her suitcase when it's taken from the church. Jane heads out without any destination in mind; her only goal is to flee from Rochester. Gemma, on the other hand, has some semblance of a plan. She wants to go to Oban and try to find Mr. Donaldson and reclaim her lost box. Gemma also receives more kindness from strangers than Jane does, including the man who she hitchhiked with and the man who gave her the fish and chips before she realized she'd lost her wallet. 

Many of these changes are indicative of the different time periods the novels are set in. It makes sense that Gemma would be robbed since Greyhound buses force you into close quarters with a lot of strangers. Jane Eyre would have been unlikely to have a comparable experience in a horse-drawn carriage. Similarly, hitchhiking in the modern sense wouldn’t have been a possible option for Jane Eyre. Lastly, Jane Eyre sleeps in the rural wilderness whereas Gemma’s temporary homelessness is more urban. These changes between the hypotext and the hypertext are necessary to preserve the general spirit of the plot while also adapting to the differences of setting.

Livesey, Margot. The Flight of Gemma Hardy: a Novel. HarperPerennial, 2013.