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Rachel Hawkins

The Wife Upstairs Hardcover – 5 January 2021

by Rachel Hawkins (Author)

3,339 ratings

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Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

"Compulsively readable...a gothic thriller laced with arsenic." --EW

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021: CNN - Newsweek - Vulture - PopSugar - Parade - BuzzFeed - E!Online - TimeOut - Woman's Day - Goodreads - She Reads - Good Housekeeping - CrimeReads - Frolic - Hello! - Mystery and Suspense

January 2021 Indie Next Pick and #1 LibraryReads Pick

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?

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Product details

Publisher : St. Martin's Press (5 January 2021)
Language : English
Hardcover : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250245494
ISBN-13 : 978-1250245496
Dimensions : 16.13 x 3.1 x 24.38 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 259,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,219 in Gothic Fiction
- 7,348 in Women's Fiction About Domestic Life
- 23,973 in Contemporary Women's Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3,339 ratings

Product description

Review

A Southern Gothic twist on Jane Eyre that's full of suspense, twists and turns...the story of this twisted love triangle will have you on the edge of your seat all the way until the end. --CNN

"A delightfully surprising and suspenseful twist on Jane Eyre.--Newsweek

Consider us enthralled. --The Skimm

"A clever page-turner...this modern Gothic novel proves that creaky houses that harbor big secrets never go out of style." --Oprahmag.com

"A delicious thriller that you'll likely want to read in a single sitting." --TimeOut

Thesis: Any thriller that has the word wife in the title is going to be good. And proof comes courtesy of Hawkins' modern retelling of Jane Eyre, which is the year's first irresistible page-turner that will keep you up at night. --E! Online

What would have happened if Jane Eyre had not been a naïve innocent with a heart of gold? Grab this page-turner and find out. --Vulture

"A thrilling, suspenseful tale of will-they-or-won't-they that will keep you on the edge." --Woman's Day

"Read to find out whether either of them can ever escape their secrets, or if their forbidden tryst is doomed to failure." --Good Housekeeping

With an even darker twist, this novel delivers a one-of-a-kind take on a well-known gothic tale. In addition to the suspenseful story line, the distorted love triangle and the impassivity of the Thornfield residents will have readers feeling simultaneously discombobulated and fulfilled.--Library Journal (starred review)

The Wife Upstairs is a thrill ride [and] the pace is hurtling...I felt implicated, dubious, off-kilter as I navigated this elaborate masque of a story. --Southern Review of Books

"This compelling retelling of Jane Eyre deftly serves up a delicious mystery with a side of biting social commentary." --Shelf Awareness

When I say I couldn't put down The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, I mean that I read it on my lunch break, while working out, instead of sleeping. It is seriously that good.--PopSugar

"An inspired riff on the gothic classic." --Goodreads

...this suspenseful domestic thriller will keep readers turning pages. --Publishers Weekly

Hawkins twists together the suspense and storytelling of Jane Eyre with the atmosphere, tension, and odd characters of a Southern-gothic into a tale of a young woman trying to escape her past...an altogether sinister novel that will make readers of Jennifer McMahon, Ruth Ware, and Donna Tartt shudder. --Booklist

A feisty Southern charmer that's twisty enough to make dinners late in kitchens everywhere...a modern, rip-roaring thriller best enjoyed on a sandy beach with a tall, salty-rimmed beverage nearby. --Atlantic Journal-Constitution

"Expect the forbidden romance you loved in the original tale with all the modern, shiny trimmings." --MarieClaire.com

...chances are you'll fly through 'The Wife Upstairs' both because you're intrigued by the unfolding story itself and because you're putting together all the nods to its inspiration, Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre.'--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A great beach read.--Austin American-Statesman

Get ready for a lightning-fast read with familiar characters in an altogether unfamiliar setting. --Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Hawkins delivers a sharp, fresh twist on a classic in this darkly funny, suspenseful story of murder, ambition, and love. Creepy and fast-paced, The Wife Upstairs kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the very last. --Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author

"I was completely blown away by The Wife Upstairs. This is a compulsive, irresistible retelling of Jane Eyre with a modern, noir twist - and wow, does it work." --Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author

"The Wife Upstairs is everything I'd hoped--sharp, smart, tricky and fast-paced. Rachel Hawkins' debut thriller puts you in the steps of an outsider, an insider, and an imposter, but which is which? You won't know til you're up way too late turning the final pages. --Kelly Harms, nationally bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler

About the Author

Rachel Hawkins is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, as well as multiple books for young readers, and her work has been translated in over a dozen countries. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.

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Top reviews from Australia

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Joanna

Overrated, flat and disappointing ending

Reviewed in Australia on 10 April 2021

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This book felt flat. I wasn’t blown away by the twist and wish there was more going on and more conflict.
For example, from the blurb I thought that Jane was going to try and make something of herself so that she would fit in and feel like an equal to Bea. Instead she just ends up doing nothing and gossiping. Also, there was quite a lot of build up and mystery around Jane’s past - I was disappointed as to how easily that was resolved.

I was definitely not a fan of the ending whatsoever!!! Some things just didn’t make sense for example I was thinking why would this person do that or why would you think this? It was just so unsatisfying and the worst thing is the ending was meant to leave the reader thinking and hanging a little but there weren't enough hints or indications beforehand to make me think "oooh this will happen". Instead I was left thinking this ending is so anticlimactic, suspenseful and disappointing.

This book falls into the guilty pleasures category (like watching trashy tv) where you can just switch off because:
the first 20% of the book was essentially about how much Jane hates rich people,
the too fast and easy romance that develops between Jane and Eddie and
boring fillers about Jane just hanging around with the beautification committee trying to fit in, though there were some hints/gossip around Bea, Balance and Eddie it didn’t add much to the mystery for me.

I wasn’t a fan of the format of the book, there were too many perspectives and jumping timelines. Normally I enjoy this format, like in Gone Girl, it was done so well and what made the twist even better.

Overall this was a quick, easy and enjoyable enough read. The pace was ok and there was just enough in each chapter to keep me interested though I wouldn’t say it was hard to put down.
Even after the twists and reveals this book left me asking, “is that all?”

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narelle bennett

The Wife Upstairs

Reviewed in Australia on 11 February 2021

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Okay but a lot like Jane Austen's Jane Eyre!!!

Helpful

Modern retelling of Jane Eyre that was more miss than hit for me

Reviewed in Australia on 4 March 2021

I like reading retellings because it’s usually fun to see how an old classic would translate into our modern times. Having read and loved Jane Eyre as a youngster (I really must re-read it one of these days!) I was excited to read THE WIFE UPSTAIRS as part of a book buddy group read. And I guess if you’re drawn to easy, popcorn thrillers with a bunch of unlikeable characters who are as nasty as a pit full of scorpions, then this book will be entertaining enough.

Sadly, the story was more miss than hit for me. I thought that all the things that made the original classic so enjoyable didn’t translate well into the modern setting. With Jane Eyre’s atmospheric old English mansion, the constraints of society and gender roles at the time, and even just the gloomy English weather, Charlotte Bronte created a novel that has entertained millions of readers over the last 150 or so years – with good reason. I could easily buy a crazy wife hidden in the attic of an old English manor house, with its multiple wings, dark corners and crevices and servants bustling about, but not in Eddie’s ultra-modern Thornfield Estate home. Even if our modern day Jane was a bit thick, the dog surely would have alarmed at the thumps and bumps coming from upstairs? But most of all, the sheer nastiness of each and every character in Hawkins’ version slowly eroded my enjoyment of the story. All those bitchy, backstabbing, snarky women read like utter stereotypes to me, ones I was only too eager to put out of my mind when the last page had been turned. And when it all came down to it, even those parts of the story that weren’t totally implausible were fairly predictable to me, robbing me of any surprise element that would have redeemed the book for me.

Even though the book totally missed the mark for me, I can see that other readers may enjoy the bunch of dysfunctional characters racing like a doomed train towards its dramatic finale. Personally, I thought that it was all wrong, from the modern American setting to the stereotypical, snarky characters and oh-so-much suspension of disbelief to give the characters the benefit of the doubt for being – frankly – a bit stupid. Never mind, we can’t all love the same things and I do think I need a break from domestic thrillers for a while!

One person found this helpful

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Karen Binks

Good

Reviewed in Australia on 13 May 2021

Good

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Kat

quick, fun and easy read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2021

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“The Wife Upstairs” was a quick, fun and easy read by the new to me author Rachel Hawkins and I had a great time with it.
The story starts with Jane, a dog-walker in a fancy, rich neighbourhood, when she meets a widower Eddie Rochester and her luck takes a turn for a better. Or so she thinks.
It’s one of those books you can devour in one sitting. The pace is incredibly fast and you just need to know what is going to happen next. The sequence of events or characters' choices sometimes made me raise my eyebrows but the writing was engaging enough to keep me interested in the story.
The book is not a shocking thriller by any means. I found the plot to be predictable and twist easy to work out (for someone like me who never read "Jane Eyre"). I would also prefer the the writing and candidates to have a little bit more depth and development but overall it was a good book.
I would highly recommend it especially for readers new to the thriller genre.

2 people found this helpful

little bookworm

A fairly bland twist on a classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2021

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Jane, relatively new to Alabama, works as a dog-walker in the exclusive neighborhood of Thornfield Estates. Walking one of the dogs one day she meets Eddie Rochester, a handsome widower, romance soon blossoming between the two. Yet, from the beginning, Jane feels there is a third person in their relationship, Eddie's former wife Bea, who drowned, along with her best friend Blanche. Jane cannot help but compare herself to beautiful, successful Bea, who had built up the well known and profitable company Southern Manors. Still Bea is gone, and Jane is with Eddie now, and for the first time in her life, she feels safe and secure. The question is, will the feeling last?

Thrillers are not usually my genre, but I'd seen quite a lot of hype around this book, and on learning it was a modern twist on the Gothic classic Jane Eyre (one of my favourite novels), I had to check it out.

Overall this was probably an average read for me. I probably wouldn't have read it if it wasn't a spin on Jane Eyre, and the fact that I love the original classic likely makes me a bit unfavorably biased towards this as no way does this book measure up even a fraction to Jane Eyre. It feels utterly bland in comparison in every single way. However, Charlotte Bronte is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest writers in English Literature, such that its probably an unfair comparison. Furthermore, this book is advertised more as a twist on a classic rather than a retelling. As such, whilst initially I found myself disappointed, once I was able to set aside Jane Eyre, I ended up enjoying this more for a book in its own right.

Certainly I can see why Hawkins has taken inspiration from Bronte's classic for the premise of a thriller, and it works well, even if overall I think it could have been executed better.

Whilst the basic premise is from Jane Eyre, the characters only really very loosely resemble Bronte's. This Jane is not at all naive or innocent, and to begin with I was rather jolted by her character. Like Bronte's Jane, this Jane has had a troubled upbringing, having been brought up in care, and Hawkins hints and teases as to the mystery of her past for a lot of the book. Whilst I was initially thrown by Jane's character here, I did like the fact that she was rather more street-wise than she let on and had her own agenda, as I think it made for a more interesting dynamic. That said, one of my gripes with the book is that absolutely none of the characters are likeable, such that by the end I simply regarded the whole lot of them as a toxic bunch, and wasn't all too bothered by what happened to them.

The book is primarily set in a suburban neighbourhood, with a lot of rich and glamorous housewives, such that it does have a bit of a Desperate Housewives feel. Some parts did feel a bit dull and dragged out in this regards, such as all Jane's community meetings as she tried to fit in. However, the setting did also work, as you get the sense of more going on behind closed doors than meets the eye, and certainly as secrets and hidden skeletons begin to emerge, the undercurrent of tension and all the wagging tongues in this otherwise rather mundane setting did add to the atmosphere.

The book is primarily told from Jane's point of view, but there are sections narrated by Bea and some flashbacks, and also a section near the end from Eddie's point of view. The story for the most part is told at quite a sedate pace, though there are certainly some twists and turns and the drama escalates at the end.

I found Jane and Eddie's romance rather wooden and contrived, and certainly Eddie has none of Mr Rochester's charisma, however again I don't think the intention is for this Eddie to really resemble Bronte's brooding hero.

I did like the little nods to the classic, such as Jane (whose real name is not actually Jane, but Helen), having a childhood friend (the real Jane) whilst she was in foster care, who died, as I thought this was a playful twist on the original story where Jane Eyre's close friend Helen dies whilst they are at school together.

Overall this was quite a quick and easy read, which once I put my expectations and biases aside, was engaging enough. Perhaps if I had cared about some of the characters at least, I might have enjoyed it more. Also for a thriller, I kind of felt the tension and suspense probably ought to have been notched up a gear or two, as this felt pretty mild.

Kindle Customer

Suspenful read with flaws but very enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2021

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Although predictable at the end, this is a great suspenseful thriller. Your typical who-done-it that has you questioning everything.

I did feel that the main character had some loose ends, her kleptomaniac tendencies and abusive upbringing ultimately held no weight to the plot.

Bristol Book Blogger 📚📖📓

Loved it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 March 2021

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A predictable story told so exceedingly well I didn't care that I'd guessed it. A modern Jane Eyre with a exceptionally talented modern twist. Loved it!

Sophia

What a read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2021

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This was a great read, no one could have warned me of the twist! I definitely wasn’t expecting it at all, really did enjoy this read.

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