Wide Sargasso Sea

Haunting, lyrical, and fiercely original, Wide Sargasso Sea reimagines one of literature’s most misunderstood women—the “madwoman in the attic” from Jane Eyre—and gives her story back its power.

Set in 19th-century Jamaica and Dominica, Jean Rhys’s acclaimed novel tells the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole woman caught between the remnants of slavery and the rising tide of colonial rule. Through lush, dreamlike prose, Rhys explores identity, race, gender, and madness in a world built on exploitation and silence. As Antoinette’s voice grows stronger, the novel becomes both a personal tragedy and a political reckoning—a portrait of what happens when empire and patriarchy destroy what they cannot understand.

Wide Sargasso Sea is not only a companion to Jane Eyre—it is a revolutionary act of literary reclamation, transforming a silenced figure into a symbol of resistance and self-definition.

Perfect for readers who love: feminist literature, postcolonial fiction, Caribbean voices, and reimagined classics.