Author: Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea (published 1966) In the film, Antoinette Cosway is the Brontëan Jane Eyre (pub. 1847) mad-woman in the attic. The wonderful interpretation and adaptation to the screen was produced in 1993, though sadly the acclaim came too late to fully honour Jean Rhys' (1890-1979) effort. Her novel of the same name, a 'prequel' to Charlotte Brontë's novel was first published in 1966. It earned her the WH Smith Literary Award in 1967. Rhys herself led a difficult life, as described in a new biography of her: The Blue Hour: A Portrait of Jean Rhys, By Lilian Pizzichini.

"Alcoholic, often destitute, and abandoned by a series of men, Jean Rhys led a tortured life,...."