In Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre, Rhys discovered the inspiration for her work Wide Sargasso Sea. Jane Eyre follows the struggles of a destitute English governess. In this story, Bertha Antoinetta Mason briefly appears as a deranged Creole woman who jeopardizes Jane Eyre's happiness.

The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands is Mary Seacole's 1857 autobiography. Born in Jamaica, Seacole recounts her experiences as a nurse in the West Indies, Central America, England, and the Crimea. This woman, of mixed Scottish and African heritage, narrates her journey to becoming a renowned nurse and the racial discrimination she faced along the way.

In her 1934 novel, Voyage in the Dark, Rhys tells the tale of Anna Morgan, a white West Indian woman residing in England. Often yearning for her homeland and feeling estranged in England, Anna descends into alcoholism and prostitution.

Rhys's posthumously published Smile Please: An Unfinished Autobiography (1979) reflects on her Dominican childhood and examines the racial divides between blacks and whites.

''Jean Rhys'' is a poetic homage by Caribbean writer Derek Walcott, released in 1981. In this short poem, Walcott imaginatively reconstructs how Rhys came to write Wide Sargasso Sea.

Elaine Showalter's The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980 (1985) explores the diagnosis and treatment of mentally ill women in England. She includes an analysis of Bertha Mason from Jane Eyre and provides historical context for such a character.