READER, I MURDERED HIM

A reimagining of the story of Adèle Varens of Jane Eyre fame as a queer feminist vigilante.

Adèle grows up with her beloved Maman, a showgirl and prostitute, in a brothel in France until the day when a certain Mr. Rochester, her presumed father, takes her away from everything she has ever known all the way to the English countryside. As Adèle grows up, she studies under the tutelage of her beloved governess, Jane Eyre; discovers the appalling secret her father keeps hidden at Thornfield; and starts a correspondence with her distant cousin Eric Fairfax. But after her father and Jane get married, she is sent away to the Webster School for Young Ladies to become the perfect English lady. As Adèle and her newfound friends navigate the world of balls and courtship, Adèle discovers a darker side of life. She tangles with an alluring young woman, an honorable thief, to fend off the abusive men who come after those she loves—until the day one of them comes for her. This story inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s classic is an engaging tale of female friendship, love, and vigilantism that does not pull punches in its study of the original, especially when it scrutinizes and wholly deromanticizes Mr. Rochester. Adèle shines as an astute, clear-minded, bisexual protagonist who is moved above all by her fierce love for her friends. All main characters are assumed White.

An absorbing and empowering tale.