Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell. New York : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2022].

Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell

Reader, I Murdered Him continues the story of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. However, other reviewers have noted that they didn’t even realize this was a continuation of a famous novel, so having read Jane Eyre is not a requirement to understand and enjoy this book.

The first third of the book is a recap of Bronte’s novel, through the eyes of Adele. Adele is Mr. Rochester’s ward, and is possibly his daughter. Her mother is a dance hall girl in Paris, and Adele grows up surrounded by world-weary, jaded women who don’t think much of men. Her mother has consumption and is dying, and her (possible) father, Mr. Rochester, comes back to Paris to take her England to live with him.

Adele lives in Mr. Rochester’s home with his servants, as he is often gone, and spends time with his first wife, Bertha, who is mad and locked up in the attic. When Jane Eyre comes to be her governess, she watches Jane and Mr. Rochester fall in love. Adele doesn’t have any friends, other than a pen pal, Eric, who is her cousin and lives in Jamaica, but she is happy with her father and Jane.

Adele is sent to a boarding school when Jane becomes pregnant and needs to focus on her new child and caring for her husband. The school, Webster School for Young Ladies, is a progressive school, teaching not just manners, dancing and embroidery, but also history, geography, poetry, mathematics, and philosophy. However, the goal is still to make the women marriageable and put them in front of eligible men of society. As Adele gets to know her classmates, she realizes several have already dealt with sexual and physical abuse, and others are so innocent, they could easily be taken advantage of by unscrupulous men. After a near-miss of an assault on one of her friends, Adele partners with an intriguing young woman from the wrong side of the tracks, a con woman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, to punish those who take advantage of young women.

When I began reading this book, and it was a recap of Jane Eyre, I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the story. I have read Jane Eyre, but it isn’t one of my favorite books. However, once the story had moved on to Adele’s life after the end of that novel, it became much more interesting to me. I really enjoyed Adele’s romance with Nan, the thief, and her strong defense of her friends and other women. I’d like to think there were Adeles protecting women throughout history, and finding their own happiness. And the title of the book is just perfect, given how many novels written during and about Victorian England focus on the main character escaping from a bad situation and marrying “him” when sometimes the best solution would have been murdering the bad “hims” and forging their own path.

Readers who love Jane Eyre, and those who love strong women and historical fiction, will enjoy this book.

Mary Beth Adams is the Community Engagement Librarian at the Alamance County Public Libraries. She can be reached at madams@alamancelibraries.org.