Have you ever wondered what happened after Jane found Mr Rochester, blinded and crippled by the fire that destroyed Thornfield Hall? After the death of his wife freed him to marry his young love, and the destruction of his home and estate forced the two of them to start life anew? Hilary Bailey answers these questions and brings in a plot of her own with this sequel to the Bronte classic. She builds a new world for the new Mrs Rochester, centred on her husband, whose sight is slowly healing and whose attitude is forever changed by being happy in love, and her young son, the joy of both his parents. For ten years after Thornfield Hall and all it stood for crumbled, Jane and Mr Rochester live in wedded bliss, spending their days in an idyllic family unit at the small manor of Ferndean. But when Mr Rochester decides to rebuild Thornfield Hall, Jane fears the ghosts that might be brought back with it, and her fears are not unfounded. Mrs Rochester rewrites Jane's 'Happily Ever After' as a twisted tale of interrupted bliss, haunting pasts, and frightening vendettas that follow the Rochesters to their newly rebuilt home. Old wounds are re-opened, grudges once thought buried resurface, and accusations abound, resulting in a mysterious, fast-paced re-imagining of a timeless favourite.

Called "a feminist classic" by Judith Shulevitz in the New York Times Book Review, this pathbreaking book of literary criticism is now reissued with a new introduction by Lisa Appignanesi that speaks to how The Madwoman in the Attic set the groundwork for subsequent generations of scholars writing about women writers, and why the book still feels fresh some four decades later. "Gilbert and Gubar have written a pivotal book, one of those after which we will never think the same again."--Carolyn G. Heilbrun, Washington Post Book World

He is the unloved second son of an old and esteemed family. She is breathtaking and rich but unknowingly carries the seeds of a devastating illness. Their fathers strike a convenient bargain which their children have little choice but to accept. Products of their time, Bertha Mason and Edward Rochester marry for financial security and respectability although they scarcely know one another. At best, they will become comfortable companions who grow to love one another. At worst . . . In Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë hints at their early days together and gives a secondhand account of their catastrophic last encounter, but there is more to the story of Bertha and Edward's disastrous union—much, much more.A respectful look at Brontë's characters through their own eyes, The First Mrs. Rochester and Her Husband reveals how the Rochesters live in those shady years between leaving Jamaica and Jane's arrival at Thornfield Hall. Removed from the lush tropical garden she loved as a child and confined to a single room, Bertha struggles to understand the losses of her past and why she is hated and feared by her husband. Meanwhile, Edward crisscrosses Europe, seeking happiness but finding only failed affairs and painful truths. He grows inured to his despair and dissatisfaction until an unusual young woman joins his household and reminds him of the man he had hoped to become. A reckless plan to commit bigamy results in tragedy for everyone around him, and Edward—humbled physically and spiritually—must at last own his mistakes and strive to make peace with himself.

In a modern and twisty retelling of Jane Eyre, a young woman must question everything she thinks she knows about love, loyalty, and murder. Jane has lost everything: job, mother, relationship, even her home. A friend calls to offer an unusual deal--a cottage above the crashing surf of Big Sur on the estate of his employer, Evan Rochester. In return, Jane will tutor his teenage daughter. She accepts. But nothing is quite as it seems at the Rochester estate. Though he's been accused of murdering his glamorous and troubled wife, Evan Rochester insists she drowned herself. Jane is skeptical, but she still finds herself falling for the brilliant and secretive entrepreneur and growing close to his daughter. And yet her deepening feelings for Evan can't disguise dark suspicions aroused when a ghostly presence repeatedly appears in the night's mist and fog. Jane embarks on an intense search for answers and uncovers evidence that soon puts Evan's innocence into question. She's determined to discover what really happened that fateful night, but what will the truth cost her?

The tortured life of Jean Rhys, author of The Wild Sargasso Sea.

"A considerable tour de force by any standard." ?New York Times Book Review"