Julia Martin has long depended on the generosity of men. But when her affair with Mr. Mackenzie comes to an end, leaving her near destitute in Paris, Julia reaches a turning point. Her youth waning and her desperation growing, Julia returns to London, only to discover her ailing mother no longer recognizes her and her estranged sister wants nothing to do with her.
With psychological depth and penetrating insight, Jean Rhys explores the contradictions of love and the perils of being a woman without means in interwar Europe in a novel the Guardian calls "a flawless work of art."
"If ever there was an unsung heroine of feminist literature, it is the amazing Jean Rhys." –Alan Cumming, Emmy and Tony Award–winning actor
Jean Rhys was a British novelist who was born and raised in the Caribbean island country of Dominica. From the age of sixteen, she was mainly a resident of England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. In 1978, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her writing.