Popular and prolific YA author Rachel Hawkins has now branched out with her first adult novel, The Wife Upstairs, a fun, exciting, page turner that has been rightfully billed as a 21st century Jane Eyre twisted into a domestic thriller.
Set in a current day affluent suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, The Wife Upstairs introduces us to Jane. Jane is new to Birmingham, and to us, the readers, she makes it clear that her name is not really Jane but explains that sometimes it is best if we leave our pasts in the past and let them be history. Whoever she was before, currently she is Jane and though she is broke now, she has become a dog-walker in a ritzy gated community. Jane operates under the idea that rich people always want what their neighbours have, so she has watched her dog-walking business grow and grow, neighbour by neighbour.
While dog-walking, Jane meets Eddie Rochester, who is a bit of a mystery to his upscale neighbours, having been recently widowed when his wife and her best friend disappeared in the lake following a boating accident. Jane sees the opportunity she has been looking for when she meets wealthy, handsome, lonely Eddie and soon the only dog she is walking is her own dog (well, Jane and Eddie’s dog) through the posh suburban neighbourhood. As their relationship grows, however, Jane finds her life haunted by the stories of Eddie’s previous wife, Bea. The bored housewives in the neighbourhood, who seem to want to gossip about almost anyone are surprisingly tight-lipped when it comes to speaking of Bea or her friend Blanche, depriving Jane of the information she is craving, to help her understand the life Eddie and Bea had prior to Bea’s death. There are also lingering questions about he boating accident itself, and what exactly happened that night.
While our story begins from Jane’s perspective, Hawkins flips the script (more than once) and switches up who we the reader get each section of the story from. We get a lot more information this way, as opposed to having everything come from only one character, but at the same time we get a much more personal view of the story, including tons of neighbourhood gossip, than we would if the entire story were told through a third person omniscient narrator. This storytelling device works perfectly in The Wife Upstairs and will keep you glued to the pages.
Hawkins has said that, “Twisting Jane Eyre’s famous love triangle into a domestic thriller set in the contemporary South is easily the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer,” and the fun she had very clearly shows through. What was great fun for Hawkins to write will also be great fun for readers to read!
The Wife Upstairs is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of January 5th 2021.
Will you be picking up The Wife Upstairs? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins’s The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.
Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.
But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.
Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?
With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?
