Recently I re-read “Wide Sargasso Sea”, the fascinating novel by Jean Rhys (first published in 1966 when the author was 76) which tells the “back story” of the mad wife in the attic in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”.

Set mainly in the vivid landscape of Jamaica in the 1830s, it is a strange, haunting masterpiece, completed by Rhys late in her troubled life. Highly recommended for anyone who has enjoyed “Jane Eyre”.