A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.

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?

Book Type:

Domestic Suspense

Review: The Wife Upstairs

A woman uncovers hidden secrets about her fiancé and his ex, in the Jane Eyre reboot, THE WIFE UPSTAIRS by Rachel Hawkins.

We first meet Jane as the neighborhood dog walker for the well-to-do residents of Birmingham’s Thornfield Estates. Jane is broke, so she helps herself to a shiny bauble here and there, sure the bored and well-heeled housewives won’t even notice. But her luck changes when she meets the recently widowed Eddie Rochester. Rich, handsome and charmingly enigmatic, Eddie is everything Jane needs to start over… again. And despite her disbelief at Eddie’s attraction to a plain girl like her, before too long, Jane moves in with Eddie and becomes the new, buzzed-about socialite of the Estates.

If the only knew her real name isn’t even Jane…

But as days turn to weeks, Jane is increasingly haunted by the memory of his ex-wife—the stunning and ambitious Bea, who is presumed dead after a tragic boating accident. Worse yet, she suspects Eddie is hiding something and Jane can’t seem to leave it alone. And just when her new, shiny future is within reach, everything comes crashing down when she discovers the terrifying truth.

Hawkins delivers a gothic thriller with a fresh twist on a well-known classic. It’s a story about attraction, ambition, murder and love rife with unexpected twists that kept me reading. While I loved the premise and the noir sensibility of the story, parts of the book moved a little slower for me with my attention ebbing throughout. The ending felt a little rushed too, leaving me unsure about how I felt about the novel as a whole. It was a good domestic suspense, just not as standout as I hoped it would be.