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Cover of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea

  • 189 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1966
  • 48 editions

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1 About this book

Jean Rhys's reputation was made upon publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of citsion's most mysterious characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". A sensual and protected young woman, the narrator grows up in the lush, natural world of the Caribbean.

She is sold into marriage to the cold-hearted and prideful Rochester, who succumbs to his need for money and his lust. Yet he will make her pay for her ancestors' sins of slaveholding, excessive drinking and nihilistic despair by enslaving her as a prisoner in his bleak British home.

Good for readers who want: historical fiction and a love story.

  • Historical fiction
  • Relationships
  • Romance
  • Romance, historical
  • Stream of consciousness
  • Race
  • Colonialism
  • Feminists

2 About Jean Rhys

1890–1979

Jean Rhys ( REESS; born Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British Creole novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her final novel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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