Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

January 12, 201628 Comments

After finishing a re-read of Jane Eyre recently, I decided that my next read would have to be Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, a book inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel and which I’ve seen described both as a prequel and a reimagining. I don’t read this type of book very often as I prefer to keep my feelings for the originals intact, but this one, published in 1966, is now considered a classic in itself and I wanted to find out why.

As I started writing this review it occurred to me that it would be impossible to discuss Wide Sargasso Sea in any meaningful way without giving away some of the secrets revealed in Jane Eyre and spoiling the Brontë novel for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. I will assume that if you’re reading this post you’re already familiar with Jane Eyre, so consider this your spoiler warning!

Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Mr Rochester’s first wife, Bertha, the ‘madwoman in the attic’. In Jane Eyre, we learn that Rochester was sent by his father to Jamaica where he met the Mason family and married Bertha, a beautiful Creole heiress. Rochester explains that he was unaware of the madness running in Bertha’s family and the fact that her mother was not dead, as he had first believed, but had actually been locked away in an asylum. When Bertha’s own behaviour begins to worry Rochester, he brings her home to England and Thornfield Hall, where he has her imprisoned in an attic room under the care of a servant, Grace Poole.

Jane Eyre only shows us one side of the story: Rochester’s. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys gives a voice to Bertha (or Antoinette Cosway, as she is known here). The first part of the novel, narrated by Antoinette herself, describes her childhood in 1830s Jamaica, just after the Emancipation Act has ended slavery across the British Empire. Antoinette’s own father made his fortune through slavery and since his death the family have remained on their crumbling plantation, Coulibri, where as white Creoles they are isolated and shunned by the freed black slaves and their rich white neighbours alike. As the years go by and Antoinette’s mother descends into mental illness, her stepfather, Mr Mason, announces that friends from England are coming to visit…

In the middle section of the book, we switch to Rochester’s point of view (although he is not actually named in the novel, it’s clear who he is supposed to be) and he relates in his own words the story of his marriage to Antoinette, whom he renames Bertha, and his views on the deteoriation of her mental health. The final, shortest section is set at Thornfield Hall and takes us through the familiar events of Jane Eyre.

I was quite disappointed with this book, if I’m going to be completely honest. Yes, it’s beautifully written but I found the dreamlike, disjointed narrative slightly difficult to follow and while I could sympathise with Antoinette’s situation, I never felt fully engaged with her on an emotional level. I realise that the writing style was probably intended to unsettle and disorientate the reader, but I just didn’t like it. Luckily, my lack of love for this novel has not affected my memories of Jane Eyre or its characters – not even Mr Rochester, despite the negative portrayal, mainly because the character in this novel just doesn’t feel at all like Brontë’s Rochester (not even his ‘voice’ sounds the same).

Wide Sargasso Sea is a short novel (I was surprised when I discovered just how short it was) but it’s also a complex one with lots of layers, symbolism and important themes – including slavery, colonialism, mental illness, race and gender – and I can see why it’s a book that has come to be widely studied in schools and universities. I can recommend the Penguin Modern Classics ‘Annotated Edition’ as an excellent choice for students or anyone who wants to study the story and its background in more depth. There’s an introduction, notes at the end, suggestions for further reading and background information on some of the topics alluded to in the story, such as the Jamaican folk magic known as Obeah.

I did love the concept of giving Bertha/Antoinette a chance to tell her story and I wouldn’t want to put anyone else off reading this book – even though I didn’t find it very satisfying, I know there are many, many other people who have enjoyed it, so if it does sound appealing to you then I would certainly recommend giving it a try.

Historical Musings #10: Possible reads for 2016

January 10, 201616 Comments

For my first Historical Musings post of the year I’ve decided to keep things very simple. The questions I’m asking this month are:

Will you be reading any historical fiction in 2016? If so, which books are you hoping to read? Are there any new historical fiction novels being published this year which you’re looking forward to, or will you be reading books already on your shelves? I’d love to hear your plans for the year ahead!

If you’re interested in books being released this year, the Historical Fiction 2016 list at Goodreads or the Historical Novel Society’s list of Forthcoming Historical Novels for 2016 might give you some ideas, but there are not many upcoming books that I feel excited about this year, if I’m honest. I’ve received a few of the books on those lists as review copies from NetGalley (The Queen’s Choice by Anne O’Brien, Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye and For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser) and I’m sure I’ll end up picking up some new releases in the library too, but otherwise there are plenty of older books that I would like to read in 2016. I want to try more books by authors like Margaret Campbell Barnes, Cecelia Holland, E. Barrington, Valerie Anand, Marjorie Bowen and Martha Rofheart, all of whom have been recent discoveries for me.

This year, as one of my Reading Resolutions, I’m determined to make time to re-read some of my old favourites (which naturally include a lot of historical novels) but I do also have a lot of unread books on my shelves.

Here are some books which I would like to get to in 2016:

The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor (reading now)
Some Luck by Jane Smiley
A Dark and Distant Shore by Reay Tannahill
The Walls of Byzantium by James Heneage
The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon
Shadow of the Moon by MM Kaye
Red Sky at Night by Jane Aiken Hodge
The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick
Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger
The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick
The Reckoning by Sharon Penman
Renegade by Robyn Young
Daughter of Siena by Marina Fiorato
Queen of Silks by Vanora Bennett
The Heaven Tree by Edith Pargeter

I also still have a lot of Walter Scott Prize nominees to get through. And of course, I haven’t forgotten about all the wonderful recommendations left in the comments on previous Historical Musings posts (including books about Ancient Rome, women’s classics, books set in Africa and books for younger readers).

As you can see, there are more than enough books to keep me busy in 2016!
What about you? What will you be reading?

Lionheart by Martha Rofheart

January 8, 201611 Comments

Martha Rofheart (1917-1990) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote several novels on subjects as diverse as Cleopatra (The Alexandrian), Henry V (Fortune Made His Sword) and the Greek poet, Sappho (Burning Sappho). Lionheart, her 1981 novel on England’s King Richard I, is the first of her books that I’ve read and although I had one or two problems with it, I did enjoy it and am looking forward to trying her others.

The story of Richard I, known as the Lionheart, is told from the perspectives of not only Richard himself, but five other people who each played a significant role in his life: his mistress, Blondelza; his mercenary captain, Mercadier; his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine; his wife, Berengaria of Navarre; and his foster-brother and scribe, Alexander. All of these people really existed, apart from Blondelza, who is fictitious, and each of them is given their own section of the book in which to relate their own version of events and to share with us their personal opinion of Richard as a man and as a king.

With six different characters each telling their side of the story, I would have liked their narrative voices to have sounded more distinctive, but they did all seem to blend together, the exceptions being Richard (a child during most of the first section of the novel), and his mother, Eleanor. I have read about Eleanor and Richard recently, in Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Winter Crown, and it was good to read another author’s interpretation of the same characters. The portrayal of Richard here is balanced and well-developed, with each narrator throwing more light on a different aspect of his personality. He is shown to be a complex man, capable of being selfish and inconsiderate, but also courageous, kind-hearted and down to earth.

I’m not sure how I feel about the character of Blondelza, Richard’s mistress. As most of the other characters are real historical figures and the plot of the novel closely follows historical fact, it doesn’t seem quite right for an entirely fictional character to be given such a prominent role in the story. On the other hand, Richard did have an illegitimate son (Philip of Cognac) by an unidentified woman, so there’s plenty of scope there for an author to fill in the gaps, which is just what Martha Rofheart has done. And Blondelza, being a glee-maiden (a female poet or minstrel), is an interesting character to read about, fictional or not!

All of the major events of Richard’s life and reign are covered in the novel, from his childhood and his rebellion (with his brothers) against his father, Henry II, to his meeting with and marriage to Berengaria and, of course, his time on crusade. Obviously the crusades were of huge importance to Richard and it’s understandable that Rofheart goes into a lot of detail in describing them, but I did find that this section of the book (narrated by the monk Alexander) really started to drag, and it didn’t help that it was twice the length of any of the other sections.

Still, this was an enjoyable novel overall and I feel that I learned a lot about not only the life of Richard the Lionheart, but also medieval life in general. I was particularly intrigued by the descriptions of the Courts of Love in Poitiers and the tasks which must be carried out by a knight who wished to prove his love for his lady. Now that I’ve had my first introduction to Martha Rofheart’s writing I’m definitely planning to read her other books, all of which sound interesting.

Thanks to Endeavour Press for providing a review copy via NetGalley.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (re-read)

January 6, 2016January 6, 201615 Comments

Jane Eyre was the book chosen for me in the Classics Spin in December. When I discovered that this was the one I’d be reading, I was delighted – it’s a book I love and which I hadn’t read for a long time. I immediately pulled my copy off the shelf to start my re-read and from the familiar opening line – “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day” – I was drawn into the story once more. The gothic atmosphere of the novel made it a perfect read for dark December nights and I finished it just before Christmas.

I think I was probably eleven or twelve years old when I had my first encounter with Jane but on that first read I didn’t get past the Lowood School section at the beginning and more than ten years passed before I decided to try again. My second attempt was much more successful; being older and better able to appreciate the story and the quality of the writing, I read the whole book and loved it. This most recent read was my third. I was curious to see whether I would feel differently about it now, after another long gap, but although I did notice things this time that I don’t think I picked up on last time, my overall opinion of the book is unchanged.

Jane Eyre, for those who don’t know the story, is an orphan raised in the home of an aunt and three cousins who make it obvious that they don’t like her and don’t want her there. At the age of ten, Jane is sent to a charity-run boarding school for girls, another harsh and unwelcoming environment. However, Jane is able to take two positive things away from her time at school – a brief but much-valued friendship with Helen Burns, and the education which later enables her to find a position as governess to Adele, the young ward of Mr Rochester of Thornfield Hall. Jane soon begins to fall in love with her employer but when she discovers that he is hiding a dark secret, it seems that her chance of happiness has been destroyed.

*Spoiler warning: I will find it difficult to discuss the book any further without spoilers, so if you haven’t read Jane Eyre yet, I would advise skipping to the end of this post.*

I loved the experience of reading Jane Eyre again. Although much of the story was familiar to me from my previous reads and many of the scenes had stayed in my mind – including Jane’s imprisonment in the red room at Gateshead Hall, the tragic death of Helen Burns, Rochester disguising himself as a gypsy woman and the revelation of Bertha’s existence – there were other parts that I had forgotten and that I enjoyed discovering again.

I also loved being reacquainted with the characters. I know there are a lot of people who have problems with Mr Rochester and I can understand why – apart from his treatment of Bertha, there’s the fact that he lies to Jane and that he’s prepared to enter into a bigamous marriage with her, but despite this I have always liked him as a character. Jane is not my favourite literary heroine (although I do admire her for her honesty, integrity, inner strength and sense of right and wrong) and Mr Rochester is not my favourite hero but they both feel so real and I can believe in their relationship and their love for one another – a love that I think they both desperately needed.

Of course, there’s much more to Jane Eyre than just the romance. There’s also some social commentary, with the descriptions of conditions at Lowood School and with the exploration of class, gender and religion. It’s an interesting read from a feminist perspective, portraying Jane’s search for independence and depicting the options open to a woman faced with making her own way in life in the early Victorian period. Having read about the lives of Charlotte and the rest of the Brontë family (something I hadn’t done when I first read this book) I can see how autobiographical some parts of the story are.

My least favourite section of the book is still the part where Jane leaves Thornfield Hall during the night and is taken in by St. John Rivers and his sisters. I remembered intensely disliking St. John on my last read, but I wasn’t sure whether that was because of the character himself or just because I was impatient for Jane and Rochester to be reunited. However, I didn’t like St. John any better this time round. I find him cold and controlling – Jane herself describes his nature as “austere and despotic” – and he doesn’t seem to care at all about Jane’s own opinions and wishes. Even though I had read the book before, I was still relieved when Jane rejects him!

*End of spoilers*

I thoroughly enjoyed my re-read of Jane Eyre, if I haven’t already made that clear! I’ve heard it said that people can either love Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but not both – well, I do love both, but I have always preferred Wuthering Heights. I’m planning to re-read it soon too and it will be interesting to see if I still do like it more.

Since finishing Jane Eyre a couple of weeks ago, I have now read the prequel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys for the first time and will be posting my thoughts on that one soon. Then I have a copy of Lyndsay Faye’s new Jane Eyre-inspired novel, Jane Steele, which I’m looking forward to reading – and I also still need to read my only remaining unread Brontë novel, Shirley. It seems I’m having a very Brontë themed start to the new year!

Ten Reading Resolutions for 2016

January 5, 201627 Comments

It’s been a while since I last took part in Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) but this week’s topic is one I was going to post about anyway: my plans and resolutions for 2016.

1. Make more time for re-reads. Only one of my 2015 books was a re-read (Jane Eyre, which I haven’t written about yet) and this makes me feel sad because I used to get so much enjoyment from reading my favourite books over and over again. I’m not going to set a target in terms of numbers, but I do want to re-read more than just one book this year!

2. Make progress with my Classics Club list. My target date for finishing my list is 10th March 2017 and I still have 32/100 books to read, so I really need to make a lot of progress this year. I will be going through the list to see if I still actually want to read all of the books on it and might decide to make some changes (one thing I like about the Classics Club is that you don’t need to stick rigidly to your original list and can add or remove books at any time).

3. Read books towards the Women’s Classic Literature Event. There’s some overlap here with my previous resolution, as this is an event hosted by the Classics Club. I already read three women’s classics towards the end of 2015, but there are a lot more that I’m hoping to read in 2016.

4. Continue to work through the series that I’m in the middle of reading. I’m very good at starting them but not so good at remembering to continue with them. Some of the many series I would like to make progress with in 2016 include the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian, Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters, Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R King, The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon, Shardlake by CJ Sansom and the Pallisers by Anthony Trollope.

5. Continue to work on my own projects i.e. Ten from the TBR and Reading the Walter Scott Prize. I have found that ‘challenges’ don’t really work for me (the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is the only one I’ve signed up for this year, apart from the Women’s Classic Literature Event) and I like to allow myself plenty of time and flexibility, so I’m happier with my own personal projects, for which I haven’t set any deadlines.

6. Read the books that I really want to read! There are a lot of books that I’ve been wanting to read for years and am sure I’m going to love, but that I’ve been avoiding reading because I’m ‘saving them for later’ or ‘want to have something to look forward to’. I’m aware of how silly this is, so 2016 is going to be the year I finally read those long-anticipated books!

7. Be more ruthless about abandoning books I’m not enjoying. Sometimes I can tell almost immediately that a book is not for me, but sometimes I’m not sure and decide to keep going in the hope that it will get better – and then even when it doesn’t improve I still struggle on to the end.

8. Try to take more notes while reading. Even if I write about a book immediately after finishing it, I often struggle to remember exactly what I wanted to say about it. Better note-taking would definitely help, but once I become swept away by a good book I don’t like having to interrupt the flow of my reading. I’m not sure what to do about this but will give it some thought.

9. Continue trying to blog regularly, but don’t worry if I ‘get behind’ or if I don’t manage to post as often as I would like to. The focus of my blog in 2016 will still be books and reading and I will still be aiming to write about every book I read (as the original purpose of my blog was to keep a record of my reading). I will be continuing with my monthly Historical Musings posts this year as I enjoy writing them and I think we’ve had some good discussions in the comment sections. I’ve also settled on a new format for my end-of-month summary posts which I think will be more interesting for me to write and for you to read!

10. Try to make every book I read a potential favourite book of the year. I know this won’t realistically happen, but it’s what we would all like, isn’t it? Hopefully Resolutions 1-7 will help with this!

Do you have any resolutions for 2016?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2016

January 2, 20167 Comments

One thing I have learned in more than six years of blogging is that the only type of reading challenges I actually like taking part in are the ones that aren’t really ‘challenges’ at all! That’s why the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Passages to the Past is perfect for me. I never have any trouble completing it as I already read so much historical fiction anyway, but I still enjoy linking my reviews to the monthly challenge posts and seeing what other participants have been reading. It’s a great way to discover new historical fiction novels and readers.

The challenge runs from January 1st to December 31st 2016 and there are six different levels to choose from:

20th Century Reader – 2 books
Victorian Reader – 5 books
Renaissance Reader – 10 books
Medieval – 15 books
Ancient History – 25 books
Prehistoric – 50+ books

Any type of historical fiction is accepted including sub-genres such as Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy and Young Adult.

I’ll be joining at the Prehistoric level again. In 2015 I read 72 historical fiction novels (you can see the list of titles here) so I’ll be aiming for 50+ books again this year.

I’ll be keeping track of my progress on this page.

If you’re interested in joining the challenge too, please see the sign-up post at Passages to the Past!

My favourite books of 2015

December 31, 201530 Comments

I always enjoy looking back at my reading year, listing my favourite reads and reminding myself of all the great books I’ve discovered during the previous twelve months. As usual, this is going to be a long list (I have never been able to restrict myself to just posting a top ten) and could have been even longer…so without further ado, here are my favourite books of 2015:

Death in Kashmir by M.M. Kaye

From my review: “I loved this book from the very beginning. It’s so important that a first chapter pulls you straight into the story and this one did, right from the opening line – Afterwards Sarah could never be quite sure whether it was the moonlight or that soft, furtive sound that had awakened her. The rest of the story was equally engrossing: a perfect mixture of mystery, suspense, romance and espionage.”

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

From my review: “The first in a series of nine books and set during an alternate version of the Napoleonic Wars. This alternate world is exactly like our own in almost every detail, but with one very important difference – the existence of dragons…Now that I know how things work in the world of Temeraire I’m looking forward to continuing with the series.”

The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay

From my review: “A blue moon and a white moon shine in the sky, faeries wait to claim the souls of the dead, and ancient magical forces lurk in the forest, yet the world portrayed in The Last Light of the Sun can easily be identified as Northern Europe in the time of the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Celts…This is a beautifully written novel, and as well as being an entertaining story, it’s also very thought-provoking in places.”

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

From my review: “My edition had more than 900 pages, which seemed quite daunting at first…but once I started reading, I found it surprisingly addictive and it was actually a much quicker read than I imagined it would be. Of the seven Dickens novels I’ve now read, A Tale of Two Cities is still my favourite, but I think this one ties with Our Mutual Friend for second place.”

Edwin: High King of Britain by Edoardo Albert

From my review: “This is a fascinating novel and I feel that I’ve learned a lot from it, but it’s also a gripping, entertaining story…There are battles and duels, feasts and feuds, and lots of political intrigue; there’s always something interesting happening or something new to learn and I was never bored.”

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

From my review: “There are plot twists, there are surprises and there are revelations (one of them coming at the end of the very last page) and every time I thought I knew where the story was going, I was proved wrong. This book is dark, powerful and emotional…and probably my favourite by Sharon Bolton so far.”

The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart

From my review: “I loved this book from beginning to end…While I don’t have a lot of knowledge of the Arthurian legends, I do know the basic details, so some parts of the story felt familiar to me – but even where I thought I knew what was going to happen, this didn’t lessen the enjoyment of the book for me.”

The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas

From my review: “As Dumas is one of my favourite authors I was fully expecting to love this book – and I did…I love the way Dumas writes and I love French history, so I didn’t really mind the fact that there was less swashbuckling action and that we don’t see as much of d’Artagnan’s friends.”

The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse by Piu Marie Eatwell

From my review: “How could I resist reading a book with a title like that? Luckily, the story between the covers proved to be as intriguing as the title; I was completely engrossed in The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse from beginning to end. I don’t often choose to read non-fiction but I’m very glad I decided to read this one!”

Imperium by Robert Harris

From my review: “I had heard of Cicero, of course, but knew very little about his work and nothing at all about his personal life. Now that I’ve read Imperium, the first in a trilogy of novels narrated by Cicero’s slave and secretary, Tiro, I know much more about both…A book about Roman politics may sound boring, but I can assure you it’s not. Harris is an author of thrillers as well as historical fiction and this is an exciting, entertaining read, not just an educational one.”

Lustrum by Robert Harris

From my review: “The first book in the trilogy, Imperium, was one of my favourite reads of the year so far and I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed Lustrum even more. What a great book this is! I was completely gripped from beginning to end, immersed in Cicero’s world.”

The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, Flood of Fire)

From my review of Flood of Fire: “Set in India and China before and during the First Opium War, the trilogy follows the adventures of a group of people thrown together on board a former slaving ship called the Ibis…Before reading these books I knew nothing at all about the First Opium War, so this trilogy has provided a perfect introduction…I am happy to have had the opportunity to read these three wonderful novels!”

Beau Geste by P.C. Wren

From my review: “Beau Geste is many things: an adventure novel set in North Africa; a tale of the French Foreign Legion; an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit. But if I was asked to describe it in one sentence, I would say that it’s a book for people who like puzzles…it’s so much fun to read that it’s easy enough to overlook any flaws…I enjoyed Beau Geste as much as I expected to and was pleased to find that P.C. Wren wrote more books featuring some of the same characters.”

The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini

From my review: “I love Rafael Sabatini! I can always count on him when I’m in the mood for a good old-fashioned adventure story and The Sea-Hawk has it all: treachery, betrayal, revenge, duels, kidnapping and piracy on the high seas…Having read three of Sabatini’s other novels, I’ve come to know what to expect from him – and The Sea-Hawk definitely lived up to my expectations.”

And these books deserve a special mention too:

Ross Poldark by Winston Graham
Romola by George Eliot
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Oswald: Return of the King by Edoardo Albert
Gildenford by Valerie Anand

***

Have you read any of the books on my list? What were your favourite reads of 2015?

Happy New Year!