[ book tip by Ann Morgan ] If you felt that Bertha, Rochester's mad wife in the attic, received a raw deal in Jane Eyre, then Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea is the book for you.

This is a book that tells hidden stories. Set amid the fragrant and exotic landscape of 1830s Jamaica, it follows the early life of Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway, the woman who will become Rochester's insane wife. Watched from the shadows by the victims of the oppressive colonialist society, Antoinette meets and marries the young Englishman who is seduced by her voluptuous innocence and exotic beauty. But disturbing rumours start to circulate, casting aspersions on Antoinette's history and her virtue, and soon the very qualities that inspired Rochester's fascination begin to draw on his hate. Caught in the trap of his suspicions and her own sense of herself, Antoinette veers towards the madness that will darken her later years.

Heady, potent and hypnotic, Rhys's narrative exploits the extraordinary power of the reader's knowledge of Antoinette's fate. A bright, vibrant counterpart to Bronte's blasted heath, this is a novel that grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck and forces him to listen to the other side of the story.

[ book info ] Rhys, Jean: Wide Sargasso Sea. Penguin, 1966 . ISBN: 0-14-118285-7.