The Wife Upstairs Review

The Wife Upstairs  

By: Rachel Hawkins

Released: January 5th, 2021

Pages: 304

My Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Synopsis: 

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. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But 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? 

My Review:

This is retelling of the classic novel, Jane Eyre. If I'm being 100% honest, I have never read Jane Eyre but know it is a highly loved classic. Classic novels are a weird thing for me. I want to read as many as I can but at the same time, whenever I start one I usually DNF it because I feel like I'm constantly trying to analyze all of it and for that I blame mandatory reading of classics in high school. 

That being said, I was very intrigued by the plot and I can never turn down a thriller, so I scooped this up in my December Book of the Month box. It is a fairly fast paced book and it kept me intrigued by the way it changes character narration. The majority of the story is told through Jane, who is Thornfield Estates' dog walker turned resident when she meets Eddie Rochester. Their relationship is quick to take off and before you know it, Jane has moved into Eddie's mansion and they're talking marriage. Jane, who grew up in foster care and never had a permeant place for long, loves the way her life has taken off. The women in the neighborhood that she use to walk dogs for have now become her peers and she even joins a neighborhood committee to try to fit in with all of them. 

While Jane may seem like she's living the dream there is a huge underlying red flag. Eddie's wife, Bea, and her best friend, Blanche, both disappeared after a girls night at the lake house. No one knows what happened but Eddie was quick to move on and declare his wife dead even with no body found. The case is still under investigation and the neighborhood is swirling with rumors of what they each think may have happened. 

This is where the story fall short for me. Jane has multiple cases when she hears noises coming from somewhere upstairs in Eddie's house, but yet she never really tries to explore where they may be coming from. I'm sorry, but if I was in her situation and knew there were some mysterious circumstances surrounding my new finances missing wife, I would be exploring that to see what it is to make sure I was safe. There are also cases where Jane witnesses Eddie acting weirdly at the lake house. She caught him up in the middle of the night looking around for who knows what, but again brushed it off. No spoilers, but even at the end I could not believe the way Jane acted! It made me so angry and I had a hard time relating to her at all because of it. I understand Jane not wanting to give up this new life she has found because it really is too good to be true, but I can't think of anyone in this situation that would brush off as much as she did. It reads almost like a bad horror movie when you're screaming for the main character to not go downstairs but yet they do anyway... 

The story also falls short for me because of the way it constantly hints at Janes past and makes it seem like it is something really insidious. It was honestly one of bigger mysteries of the novel and I could not wait to figure out what she had actually done and what she was running from. When you find out exactly what happened in her past it's fairly lackluster and a bit of a disappointment, if I'm being honest. I felt like the thing she was running from was something more of guilt and nothing to do with having to hide from the law or people from her past. 

Overall, I waned more from this book than what was delivered, but at the same time, it was not a terrible read. I left it feeling pretty meh but am now very interested now in picking up Jane Eyre so I can compare the two. Have you read this one, if so let me know what your thoughts are!

Catch you later, 

Molly