BRAINERD — “The Wife Upstairs” by Rachel Hawkins has been on my to-be-read list for a while. I didn’t know anything about the story but had gotten it from someone as a recommendation. While choosing it for my next audiobook, I learned two things.
The first is that it’s a retelling of one of my all-time favorite books — “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. I haven’t read any other adaptations of the classic novel, so I immediately got even more excited. I also learned there’s another book with the same title, written by popular thriller author Freida McFadden.
I didn’t know anything about McFadden’s “The Wife Upstairs” either, but I know her general style and that she’s especially well regarded. So I thought I’d take on a fun little exercise by reading both books with the same title. I’m not sure if I set out to compare them or just explore the idea that two very different books could have the exact same title.
Either way, it was a fun undertaking, and I’d recommend them both. From the very first line, mimicking the opening sentence of “Jane Eyre,” I knew I was going to enjoy this book. Jane is clearly running from something, and whatever it is has brought her to Birmingham, Alabama, where she found work, by chance, as a dog walker in the rich neighborhood of Thornfield Estates.
She walks dogs for the likes of Mrs. Campbell Reed and Mr. Tripp Ingrahm, the husband of the late Blanche Ingram.
If you’ve read “Jane Eyre,” I’m sure you’.