Born into an oppressive colonialist society, Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent sensuality and beauty. After their marriage, disturbing rumours begin to circulate, poisoning her husband against her. Caught between his demands and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette is driven towards madness.
This is a fully annotated edition of Jean Rhys's late literary masterpiece, which was inspired by Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and is set in the lush, beguiling landscape of Jamaica in the 1830s.
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They say when trouble comes close ranks and so the white people did. PART ONE
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(@PenguinUKBooks, 30 March 2000, first published 1966, 151 pages, paperback, bought from @AmazonUK)
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I've read other books by the author and enjoyed them. I bought this to read a part of a reading challenge a couple of years ago as I planned to read it in conjunction with Jane Eyre. It didn't happen and this was left on my shelf gathering dust. I haven't read Jane Eyre so I have no idea if this would affect my reading of Wide Sargasso Sea. I really enjoyed this book. It's similar in length and style to other books I've read by the author. This is a powerful book and so much is packed into such scant pages. The book is split into three parts which examine Antoinette's life at different points before, during and when she is the mad woman in the attic, the first Mrs Rochester, touching the events and tragedy that steer the course of her life. I had such a good time with this and didn't want the story to end. It's very dark at times but not quite as dark as I expected. I will need to read Jane Eyre at some point and compare.
