Wide Sargasso Sea | Wide Sargasso Sea

At a glance:

Author: Jean Rhys
First Published: 1966
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Domestic realism
Time of Work: Late 1830’s
Setting: Jamaica, Dominica, and England
Principal Characters: Antoinette (Bertha) Cosway, The Young Englishman, Christophine
Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Culture, Caribbean, Love or romance, Race, Nature, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Alienation, England or English people, Jamaica or Jamaicans
Locales: England, West Indies, Jamaica, Dominica, Windward Islands

The Story:

Antoinette’s immediate family consisted only of her impoverished, widowed mother and her idiot brother; a small number of black servants remained at the dilapidated Coulibri estate. Rejected by blacks and whites because of her mixed heritage and her family’s poverty, Antoinette drifted through a troubled and lonely childhood. Her mother ignored her, pushed her away without emotion of any kind, and only Christophine, the servant from Martinique, was kind and nurturing.

Annette Cosway, Antoinette’s mother, still young and beautiful, fought for survival by...

Wide Sargasso Sea | Wide Sargasso Sea

At a glance:

The Story:

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