Sarah Shoemaker's Mr. Rochester is a retelling of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and I fell in love with it. The book is told from the point of view of Edward Fairfax Rochester himself, and readers learn about his life from the time he was a motherless boy roaming the lonely corridors of Thornfield Hall to his eventual marriage to Jane Eyre.
Although Charlotte is not my favorite of the Brontë sisters (Anne is), I've always loved her Jane Eyre. I've watched the BBC mini-series starring Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton so much that I have vast swathes of the dialogue memorized. I've always wanted to learn more about Rochester, and Shoemaker does a marvelous job of filling in the blanks that both blend in with the original book and make for an engrossing story.
Here, Rochester is a boy/man starved for love, starved for someone to call him by his name, and I couldn't help but fall in love with him. His schooling, his fruitless attempts to earn his father's love, the family business, his marriage to Bertha Mason... as he weathers each storm, I became totally invested in his soul-withering journey toward Jane. The icing on the cake was learning just how much he was willing to give up to have a life with her. I kept wanting to hug the poor man!
I found so much to appreciate in Mr. Rochester. How he came to have his dog, Pilot, and his horse, Mesrour. I even learned the origin of one of my husband's favorite expressions, "cloth ears."
Oh... by the way, if you're thinking of reading this book to learn more about Jane, I wouldn't recommend it. Jane shows up two-thirds of the way through the book. She had her own book, her own time in the spotlight. This is Edward Fairfax Rochester's time to shine, and he does. Brilliantly.
Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker
eISBN: 9781455569823
Grand Central Publishing © 2017
eBook, 465 pages
Historical Fiction, Standalone
Rating: A+
Source: Purchased from Amazon.
I'm very glad you liked this so well, Cathy. It's a fascinating idea to tell a story from an alternate point of view, and in the original novel, we really don't learn as much about Mr. Rochester. I can see how would be intriguing. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI've read, and still own my copy of, Jane Eyre, but it's a little too Gothic for my taste. (And I couldn't get into Wuthering Heights, but have never given Anne Bronte's work a try, which is food for thought.) Since Jane is a favorite of yours, I'm glad this book extended the pleasure for you.
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