Wide Sargasso Sea

Wide Sargasso Sea

<p><strong>This “tour de force” (<em>New York Times Book Review</em>) celebrates its 50th anniversary.</strong></p><p><em>Wide Sargasso Sea</em>, a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys’s return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With <em>Wide Sargasso Sea</em>, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction’s most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë’s <em>Jane Eyre</em>. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.</p><p>A new introduction by the award-winning Edwidge Danticat, author most recently of <em>Claire of the Sea Light</em>, expresses the enduring importance of this work. Drawing on her own Caribbean background, she illuminates the setting’s impact on Rhys and her astonishing work.</p>