Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre

I was intrigued by the premise of this short story collection. Tracy Chevalier asked 21 well-known woman writers from around the world to contributes a story inspired by the famous line from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre: "Reader, I married him." Among the contributors are Helen Dunmore, Sara Hall, Tessa Hadley, Jane Gardam, Emma Donahue, Elif Shafak, Francine Prose, Evie Wyld, Susan Hill, Esther Freud, Audrey Niffenegger, Lionel Shriver, Linda Grant--an impressive list indeed! Several of the stories dig deeper into Bronte's novel, giving us narratives from the points of view of Mr. Rochester or Grace Poole; the latter, by Dunmore, is, in my opinion, the best of the lot. Others move into more contemporary times and situations, focusing variously on relationships happy, not so happy, and mundane. The characters are represented in youth, middle age, and old age, in traditional marriage and in gay relationships, and their stories take place on four continents. At least two are about marriages that never take place. Not every story will please every reader, but there's enough here, I believe, to interest most short story lovers and fans of Jane Eyre.

NOTE: Amazon offers the individuals stories for Kindle download at 99 cents each, for those who might like a taste before diving in.)

I first encountered Jane Eyre in a Classics Illustrated comic book when I was a young girl. We were on a trip to my grandparents' farm, and I read the comic book again and again. I was very young and still reading children's books ... but I was fascinated by this story. I sought it out later in the library, and fell in love with this classic. It was a book I reread over my teens and twenties, often back to back with Wuthering Heights, which is so different but just as compelling.

When I first read about a collection of stories inspired by Jane Eyre, I was eager to read this book. Everything about this book is interesting, from the lovely cover art, to the title Reader, I Married Him, to the introduction by Tracy Chevalier, and most of all, the collection of stories.

Tracy Chevalier's Foreward is so well written and insightful. She writes: "'Reader, I married him' is Jane's defiant conclusion to her rollercoaster story. It is not, 'Reader, he married me' - as you would expect in a Victorian society where women were supposed to be passive; or even, 'Reader, we married.' Instead Jane asserts herself; she is the driving force of her narrative, and it is she who chooses to be with Rochester" (p. 2).

There are 21 stories included in this book, by some of today's finest women writers. Some of the stories are contemporary takes on marriage inspired by the line "Reader, I Married Him." Some are more closely inspired by the novel Jane Eyre. The quality is astoundingly high, and the variety of tone and subject matter is a delight.

A few of my favorites included:

"My Mother's Wedding" by Tessa Hadley. The young woman in this story remembers her mother's plans for an unconventional wedding in the 1970's. She describes her mother's beauty and then talks about her own fascination with the Pre-Raphaelites. "That was the way life was divided up between me and my mother. I knew about things, and she was beautiful" (p. 10). This story has one surprise and then another, as the young woman takes charge of her own destiny.

"Grace Poole, Her Testimony" by Helen Dunmore. This story is told by Grace Poole, who is Bertha's caregiver in Jane Eyre. It seems she was once young and very taken with Rochester.

"The Mirror" by Francine Prose continues the story of Jane and Rochester after their wedding, and into marriage counseling and their future.

"Reader, She Married Me" by Sally Vickers tells the story of Jane and Rochester from Rochester's perspective. I found this passage intriguing: "With the hazily restored sight of my one eye I observe her nightly at her desk, where she sits writing furiously. She tells me she is writing an account of her life, and I have every confidence that she will turn our story as her will would have it - herself my saviour, her fierce morality triumphant, a truly righteous heroic love conquering all. Which is why I have seen fit to write down my own version of events in the hope that some future reader might ponder an alternative" (pp. 169 - 170).

"The Orphan Exchange" by Audrey Niffenger. This story focuses on Jane's life as an orphan in a contemporary war-torn country ... with a very different conclusion than Jane Eyre.

It is a pleasure to read fine short stories, and even more of a delight to read such imaginative work. I recommend Reader, I Married Him to anyone who loves Jane Eyre, to anyone who enjoys the short story genre, and to anyone who craves strong writing.

Most of the stories in this volume are amusing and enjoyable, though not very serious. In one, Rochester is a dog. In another, Grace Poole claims that Rochester "took advantage" of her when she first came to Thornfield Hall as a young woman. A couple of the stories present Jane in an unfavorable light. One even suggests that she deliberately caused the accident in which Rochester was injured while riding his horse. But yet another gives us a sweet glimpse of what Adele might have been like as a grown woman.

I think there is room for another volume of these stories, and would like to read it if it is ever published. There is no story dealing with the fortune-telling scene, which would have been an obvious and welcome choice. Also, I did not notice any reference to Jane's time with St. John Rivers and his cousins, which I think was one of the great parts of the novel and would make a natural subject for a story.

I do recommend the book, with only the caveat that a few of the stories are disappointing because they are set in the present time and have only a remote connection, if any, to the novel itself.

I was so excited about this book that I decided to reread Jane Eyre before starting it. I enjoyed nearly every story in the collection - a variety of locations, times and perspectives. They would be great stories even without a fresh reread of Bronte's book but were even better with the original fresh in my mind.

I did not care for the book- the connection to jane Eyre for most of the short stories was barely there, if at all, and I found that to be very disappointing . If many of these tales were inspired by Bronte- then one may see a log cabin to be inspired by the Parthenon !

Reader, I Married Him bears only the faintest resemblance to the much loved classic novel. Like a xerox of a xerox of a xerox, the stories barely pay homage to Charlotte Bronte. However, some of them are rather distasteful, unless you enjoy lesbian romance, while others are simply so far-fetched as to be unintentionally comical (the screamer isn't Bertha, but a parrot). I really wanted to love this book, but I found it strange and hollow. Notwithstanding, the various writers have talent, and their modern voices are strong, but I actually wonder if some of them ever read the original Jane Eyre. This was a noble idea on Chevalier's part, but please, Tracy, don't try it again with Jane Austen or Emily Bronte, for example. Some perfect books are meant to remain as we know and love them.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite all-time novels. Equally intriguing to me is the life of Charlotte Bronte and her sisters, Emily, and Anne. When I was given the opportunity to review this collection of stories inspired by one of the most famous lines from Jane Eyre – I quickly took it! I am also nearing the end of listening to the audiobook version of Jane Eyre which fit perfectly with also reviewing this collection.

I am a big fan of short stories. This collection contains twenty-one short stories that are all supposed to take their inspiration from the line Reader, I married him. The stories ranged wide in topics, settings, and time periods and I enjoyed that. I did wonder how some of the stories were supposed to be inspired by the “Reader, I married him” line.

I’ll admit that many of my favorite stories in this collection actually contained the characters from Jane Eyre. Summaries of my favorite stories are below:

Foreword by Tracy Chevalier
Chevalier’s forward gives a great overview of Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte and just how game changing the quote, “Reader, I married him” was when Jane Eyre is originally published. She also describes how the authors used this quote as inspiration for their short story. She also includes my favorite Jane Eyre quote,
“I am no bird; no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Luxury Hour by Sarah Hall
A tired new mother has one luxury hour a day where she takes a swim at a neighborhood pool. While there one day she meets a former lover and has a moment where she thinks of herself as the single, carefree woman she was before marriage, childbirth, and breastfeeding. I thought this was a great story that really captures the downtimes that I think all mother’s experience.

A great quote, “She could barely look at him; the past was restoring itself too viscerally. Since the baby she had felt nothing, no desire, not even sorrow that this part of her life had vanished, perhaps for good.”

Grace Poole Her Testimony by Helen Dunmore
I loved this story which added another element to the story of Jane Eyre. Told from Grace Poole’s perspective, she is sure that Jane Eyre has gotten the true story wrong. Grace Poole guards the former Mrs. Rochester upstairs, but she was once a beautiful girl herself that captured the fancy of Mr. Rochester. I loved the twist at the end of this story.

To Hold by Joanna Briscoe
Talk about twisted endings, this one beats all others in this collection. A beautiful young girl is dressed and educated by her parents to capture the attention of the nearby rich land owner Tay-Mosby. She does not appear to and instead marries “the lad who worked for his parents’ motor garage.” Life then moves in mysterious ways and she moves through different husbands to a truth that was not known at the beginning of the story. I can’t say more without ruining the tale!

It’s a Man’s Life, Ladies by Jane Gardam
I loved this story of a grandchild trying to determine what makes their grandmother tick. The grandmother, Gertrude, had been married to a captain who loved the sea, and she spent most of her life on land with her children and sisters. The captain died not leaving her much to live on at his death. Her grandchild tries to puzzle out why she married her grandfather and she says, “O, I was lucky, you know, to get anyone. I was what they called ‘an old bride’ of twenty-six. Of course I married him. Everyone needs to keep something private from their families.”

Reader, I Married Him by Susan Hill
A great short story told by Wallis Simpson’s perspective on her marriage to King Edward VIII. I loved this quote, “But there was truth among the lies. They said I was ambitious, hard and ruthless and would stop at nothing to get what I wanted. They did not know what that was of course. How could they?”

The Mirror by Francine Prose
Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester are married, but their marriage is troubled. She believes in the mad wife in the attic and he does not. Couples therapy ensues.

The China from Buenos Aires by Patricia Park
Teresa has moved to New York City from Argentina. With her parents originally from Korea living in Argentina, and Teresa growing up in Argentina, she feels she doesn’t fit in with either Chinese or Hispanics in NYC. She runs into a boy she never looked twice at at home, Juan, and they strike up a friendship. When her father’s health and finances take a turn for the worse, Teresa has choices to make about life and her relationship with Juan. My favorite quote, “The sooner you stop caring so much, the sooner you can start to live.”

Reader, She Married Me by Salley Vickers
The ending told from Edward Rochester’s point of view. He is sure that Jane is writing their story and leaving out his version of events, which includes a very sad back story on his marriage to Bertha and the reason for her madness. “I have heard since that childbirth can send a woman mad but at the time I was on my own in a foreign country with no one to consult.”

Dorset Gap by Tracy Chevalier
Dorset Gap is a cute story of a couple hiking and finding a log to sign. Ed thinks of a creative quote to add.

The Mash-up by Linda Grant
A wedding does not go as planned. “Better for a wedding to go a little wrong; better, even for it to be a disaster, for it foreshadows all of the times that are to come. Marriage is not a romantic fantasy, its hard work.”

The Self-Seeding Sycamore by Lionel Shriver
I’m not sure how this story fits into the theme, but I loved it. A recent widow has problem with her neighbor’s self-seeding sycamore which sends many seedlings to wreck her garden. Her solution gets things out of hand and teaches her that first impressions are not always accurate.

The Orphan Exchange by Audrey Niffenegger
This story of experimentation on orphans in WWII England is more than a little creepy.

Overall, Reader I Married Him has a great collection of unique stories with a variety of different characters, ages, settings, and topics. I don’t think the theme quite unified them, but I did enjoy them, especially the stories that had characters from Jane Eyre included.

Book Source: Review Copy from William Morrow – Thanks!

OMG, this is some boring reading! This has like two stories that were interesting and related to Jane Eyre. Maybe it's just me, I'm not into corn ball romance.

This was an entertaining collection of short stories inspired by "Jane Eyre." I really enjoyed reading all the different styles of writing and the different ways in which each author incorporated "Reader, I Married Him." Very original.

I was disappointed in this book of short stories. So many of them were negative, highlighting failed experiences. They were probably well written, just not fun for me to read. (I read them all, since I had paid for the book!)