Book Synopsis:
Outback Australia, 1981
After a terrible childhood, Jane comes to Thornfield as nanny to the adorable Adele, watched over by the handsome and enigmatic Edward. Plain and inexperienced, Jane would never dream of being more than his hired help. But swept up in the dramatic beauty of the Outback, she finds herself drawn to Edward. And, to her surprise, he seems to return her feelings.
But Jane is not the first woman Edward has pledged to make mistress of Thornfield.
As a child, Betty was taken from her English home and sent for adoption in Australia. At first, no-one wanted her, deeming her hair too curly, and her skin too dark. Until the scheming Mr Mason sees a chance to use Betty to cement a relationship with the rich and powerful Rochester dynasty…
When Jane discovers Betty’s fate, will she still want to be the next Mrs Rochester?
The Other Wife is available now in ebook now and in paperback on the 24th January 2019. You can purchase or pre-order your copy here.
My Review:
The Other Wife is a fantastic re- imagining of the classic Jane Eyre with a modern twist. It manages to be heartbreaking, gripping and quite dark in places which definetly kept me on my toes, despite being a fan of the original.
In alternate chapters we learn about the story of Jane and Betty two little girls who have a heartbreakingly bad childhood. Their innocence and the treatment they receive at the hands of the people who should have cared for them is quite hard to read about. I had a huge lump in my throat whilst reading about their experiences and wished I could reach into the story and give them a huge hug! I was firmly on their side and simultaneously wanted to keep reading to find out what happens to them and to stop reading as I wasn’t sure I wanted to know!
The location of the story has been changed to Australia which gives it quite a modern feel and the author cleverly weaves a lot of historical details into the book about what life was like in Australia at that time. Throughout the book we learn about the huge class divides at that time and the racism and prejudice against certain people. It’s hard to believe that these existed now but they are a huge part of this story and as such some of the scenes describing this made my blood boil as i felt it was hugely unfair.
Despite knowing this story well the author still managed to surprise me at times and there were lots of twists and turns that kept me glued to the book. I actually preferred the ending to this book then the original which surprised me but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
This is the first book by this author I have read and I will look forward to reading more from her in the future. If you like gripping and emotional historical fiction then you’ll love this book!
Huge thanks to Izzy from HQ stories for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
About The Author:
Juliet Bell is the collaborative pen name of respected authors Janet Gover and Alison May.
Juliet was born at a writers’ conference, with a chance remark about heroes who are far from heroic. She was raised on pizza and wine during many long working lunches, and finished her first novel over cloud storage and skype in 2017.
Juliet shares Janet and Alison’s preoccupation with misunderstood classic fiction, and stories that explore the darker side of relationships.
Alison also writes commercial women’s fiction and romantic comedies and can be found at http://www.alison-may.co.uk
Janet writes contemporary romantic adventures mostly set in outback Australia and can be found at http://www.janetgover.com
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Sorry, but to me this sounds like rehashing not reimagining. For me, a reimagining has to be something like Wide Sargasso Sea, that puts a different slant on the original story. However, I’m really glad you enjoyed it.
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Fair enough! I wasn’t sure how best to describe it but thought as it was set in a completely different time period and told the story from both of Rochester’s wives that it was a re-imagining x
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Oh, please don’t think I was taking issue with your choice of words. I just happen to have a great affection for the original Jane Eyre. To be fair, I had the same reaction to another recent book, The Winters, which was a ‘retelling’ of Rebecca, another of my all time favourites (which ironically was originally accused of being a rip-off of Jane Eyre!). I probably get a little overprotective of my favourite books!
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It’s no problem I wasn’t i always appreciate input! I’m slightly dyslexic so often get stuff wrong xx
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I can not stop staring at this cover! It is gorgeous! x
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