This is an awful book. I came into it with the misconception that it is a classic piece of fan-fiction, that has stood the test of time and has earned it's place as a prequel to Jane Eyre. What I found, was a very well written, luscious, vibrant story, that ended up as the most unbelievable, misogynistic piece of sexist crap I've read for a long time. I can't believe this was created by a modern woman. Antoinette/Bertha was mad? No. She had a healthy libido despite an unequal arranged marriage, and was punished for this terrible sin by her husband withdrawing his affection, cheating on her, isolating her from her friends then locking her up! What a turd. Any woman in her right mind would go a bit nuts in this situation. A woman with some form of post traumatic stress like she almost certainly had, would definitely have been too fragile to take it.

I was really hopeful that this would be some kind of interesting psychological study to explain the events in Jane Eyre, instead, I feel cheated. This is ridiculous. If it wasn't for the start, I would have given it one star. I enjoyed reading about Antoinette's unfortunate childhood, Jean Rhys does a really excellent job of portraying life in post-slavery era Jamaica. It's such a shame she didn't just write her own story. I'll have to look for some more of her original work to see if it will redeem her.