The Iron Book Discussion Group will read Rachel Hawkins’s The Wife Upstairs, a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, next month:
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BOOK DESCRIPTION: 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. 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?
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Copies of The Wife Upstairs can be picked up from the Book Discussion Shelf on our first floor. The book is also available to download through Overdrive (as an ebook or an audiobook) or Hoopla (as an audiobook).
An in-person discussion of The Wife Upstairs will be held at the library on Tuesday, September 13, at 7:00 PM.
And an online discussion of the book will be held via Zoom on Thursday, September 15, at 3:00 PM. Participants will receive an email with the login information for Zoom after registering.
Published on August 12, 2022.
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