Adèle: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story

For readers who love Charlotte Bronte or Jean Rhys, this is a travesty. For those unfamiliar with them, this book is unreadable. I paged through in one hour in increasing disgust, looking for something redemptive. Tennant chooses to write in a false eighteenth century prose style that does nothing to illuminate the inner lives of her so-called characters, but does everything to alienate readers of all stripes, whether familiar with the literary tradition she is desecrating, or not. I loved Wide Sargasso Sea. This book manages to assault that novel as well as Jane Eyre. The melodrama is forced and amateurish. I had high hopes for this one and wish that I had read reviews here first. Why did Harper ever publish this joke? Run away, run!

'You have not quite forgotten little Adele, have you, reader?'

Adele, young charge of Jane Eyre and probable illegitimate daughter of Edward Rochester in Charlotte Bronte's novel, is generously given her own 'hidden story' by Emma Tennant. The prospect of exploring the irregular world of an 'article de Paris', raised by a beautiful and exotic trapeze artist before being rescued from the Paris gutter by her wealthy and enigmatic father, is certainly worthy of a follow-up novel; the confines of the sensible romance in 'Jane Eyre' are removed as we meet Adele's mother, Rochester's French mistress, and learn of the colourful and dramatic world inhabited by Adele before she came to Thornfield. Celine Varens, a 'danseuse de corde - tightrope show more walker many leagues in the air' who 'could sing like a nightingale', is a romantic figure of theatrical escapism to contrast with Charlotte Bronte's plain heroine, but this exciting character is written out in the early chapters (eloping to Italy, to die late in Adele's life). Tennant has Rochester pining for his lost French love and Adele painting a retrospective picture of a destructive and possessive relationship between her mother and father, until Adele's story merges into Jane's, and Bronte's calm, strong heroine helps father and daughter 'move forward into the next stage' of their lives. Adele's story is then sacrificed for a retelling of Jane Eyre's, and the magic is lost to unfavourable comparison. The author of 'Adele' does not manage to create a wholly independent and worthy spin-off, as Jean Rhys achieved with 'Wide Sargasso Sea'. Instead, the reader is left to unravel conflicting analyses of Charlotte Bronte's heroine, voiced through various first-person narratives, and a plot that suddenly ties itself in unnecessary knots as the story nears its conclusion.

After beginning with an intriguing premise, and setting the scene of a colourful and hedonistic life in Paris for the young Adele and her courtesan mother, Emma Tennant's novel quickly loses focus. By attempting to tie in Adele's background to the death of Bertha and the fire at Thornfield, Tennant sacrifices originality to her detailed research of Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre', and although it is clear that the author has a love of the original characters and has studied the story well, she does not make Adele's narrative stand apart from Jane's. The story is compelling enough, but not satisfying. show less

Why do I torture myself? Why do I insist on reading prequels, sequels, and retellings of my favorite novels?

I guess for the same reason we all loved playing with scissors and matches when we were children.

Anyway, please spare yourself and DON'T READ THIS. ESPECIALLY if you haven't read the real "Jane Eyre" yet because it will give you terrible ideas.

Not to mention I'd like to do terrible things to the author for the way she portrayed my Mr Rochester! MAY THIS BOOK ROT.

This book was very dark and twisty. I was expecting a very different vibe from the story then the one I got. Adele is mostly unlikable until the very end and I was not expecting the very different versions of events from here. It's cleverly written but not necessarily what I was looking for.

This book was very dark and twisty. I was expecting a very different vibe from the story then the one I got. Adele is mostly unlikable until the very end and I was not expecting the very different versions of events from here. It's cleverly written but not necessarily what I was looking for.

This book was very dark and twisty. I was expecting a very different vibe from the story then the one I got. Adele is mostly unlikable until the very end and I was not expecting the very different versions of events from here. It's cleverly written but not necessarily what I was looking for.

This book was very dark and twisty. I was expecting a very different vibe from the story then the one I got. Adele is mostly unlikable until the very end and I was not expecting the very different versions of events from here. It's cleverly written but not necessarily what I was looking for.