My Regency romance, Marrying The Reluctant Lord, has echoes of one of my favourite novels, Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys. That novel in turn has echoes of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
This from the description on Amazon of the latest edition of Wide Sargasso Sea:
This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester.
Rhys portrays Antoinette amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.
Jane Eyre fans will recognise Antoinette Cosway as the woman in Rochester’s attic.
My character Juliet Barton, although coming from a similar background, manages to overcome any tendency to madness and take control of her own destiny.
A sign of the times, I think.