Sarah Shoemaker

For fans of Jane Eyre may have wondered what is Rochester's background and how did he end up with a psychotic wife locked up in his attic, author Sarah Shoemaker provides a plausible and thought-provoking, if somewhat problematic, backstory in this companion novel.

The narrative started strong, and the writing is excellent. It was fun and engaging, and Rochester seemed like a sincere, good-hearted and generally likeable guy thrust via deceit into circumstances not of his choosing. My regard for him was sympathetic until his behavior toward Jane evolved suddenly into something uncomfortable and manipulative. He was literally gaslighting her. Moreover, I was not convinced of either's love for the other with what little interaction was presented in the text. Rochester's affections for Jane seem to come abruptly out of nowhere — he concluded they are perfectly suited for one another when they were but barely acquainted, which had me considering that Edward too may have been afflicted with a touch of crazy. It's been several decades since I read Jane Eyre, so perhaps there is a similar lack of buildup and the same criticism would apply. There are a number of red flags when viewed through a 21st-century lens. The one thing Rochester and Jane did have in common was a lifelong lack of a loving family and both were cruelly starved for affection. Readers would normally be rooting for this kind of connection, but their relationship as presented didn't quite sit right with me.… (meer)

Set in 1908 Smyrna, it is an idyllic time. The Greeks and Turks live together peacefully in the most cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean Sea. But just thirteen years later, that life comes to an end when Greeks and Armenians are massacred in what became known as the Smyrna Catastrophe.

This is a family saga of love and survival. The Demirigis and Melopoulos families were brought to life through Shoemaker’s writing. I was enchanted with the love story of Liliana Demirigis and Vissili Melopoulos.

I am an avid historical fiction fan, so I really enjoyed this book. I relished the historical details of life at that time – the foods, the celebrations, the fine artistry of the silverwork created by Liana’s father. And then the destruction of Smyrna, the Great Fire of Smyrna, and the fear of the people fleeing for their lives. It was all so vivid.

Thank you to The Book Club Cookbook and HarperCollins Publishing for my copy of the book.… (meer)

3.5 stars

I’m a Jane Eyre fan. Of course I am. Classic, moody, romantic – what’s not to like? Well, with all the film and television adaptions of the story, I confess to yawning through most of little Jane’s trials and tribulations at the Lowood School in favor of the far-more interesting gothic tale of mysterious mansion with its secrets and moody master.

So I was drawn to this book. Of course I was. Sarah Shoemaker concentrates on young Edward’s life and education, pieced together from bits and bobs in Brontë’s original. She blends her historian / researcher’s experience with a keen understanding of the psychology of a lonely and abandoned child, and wraps it all up with a strong period style in the writing.

Roughly two-thirds of the book are all that, only bringing in Jane much later. That works in this book because, as in the original, Jane is by far the more interesting character. Shoemaker’s Edward Fairfax Rochester is smart and curious, but painfully naïve and overly optimistic, even in the face of one betrayal after another.

We always knew that gruff, barking exterior was a mask, but he’s really rather stupidly naïve and quite irritatingly desperate for love. Okay, I can see how that works – and Shoemaker does a credible job of creating a highly detailed backstory to support that. But despite his attractive intelligence, he’s more than a bit annoying.

[Sidebar: I can go on for a while if I start to compare the pluses and minuses of all the various screen versions of Rochester. None are perfectly balanced: too gruff, too gentle, too brooding, too emo… but I digress.]

Reviewers here comment they don't like the obvious research in the first part of the book (how the mill works, details of the schoolroom) but I enjoyed those bits. Shoemaker’s quite impressive in this facet of her novel. Others comment that the book falls apart once Jane comes into the story, but again, I feel Shoemaker made good choices not to dwell on what Brontë covered in detail - and from Jane’s point of view. Here, we get Rochester’s version of the iconic scenes and the author doesn’t fall into the trap of including his observations of something he wouldn’t have witnessed or known about.

I enjoyed the book. It’s a nice companion to the original Jane Eyre.

… (meer)