The Wife Upstairs kept me hooked from the first page! The book is a contemporary retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, but it has a very different tone. While Brontë’s novel has a dark, brooding feel, this novel, while it has some dark moments, is far snarkier with a more feminist feel to it. It, to me, it is far more fast-paced. The author has a writing style that is very engaging. She writes in a way that flows and reads well, pulling readers into the pages and keeping them there. The story was full of twists, intelligently clever, and very suspenseful.
This is a novel in which the characters really make the story. And what makes this so extraordinary is that there isn’t a single character in the book that is wholly sympathetic. Not a main character, nor any of those supporting. Jane, Eddie, Bea—our three main characters—all of them deeply flawed in rather unappealing ways yet still somehow charming in their own individual ways.
Jane is new to Birmingham, Alabama, trying to build a new life for herself. So she she begins walking dogs for the wealthy elite in one of the richest communities in the area. It is a world of gossip, appearances, and a “bless your heart” kind of attitude. It’s also a place where shiny toys and baubles are there for the taking, which Jane frequently does. Her luck seems to change for the better when she meets Eddie, recently widowed after his wife Bea and her best friend drowned in a boating accident. For Jane, Eddie represents everything she wants most… opportunity and protection. But even as she begins to fall for him, there is still the shadow of Bea. And with that shadow comes a host of secrets.
The WIfe Upstairs is a story about secrets, class, and the lengths one will go to hide the skeletons in their closets.