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A review by courtney_reads_stories
Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
3.5
✨ Historical Fiction
✨ Sapphic
✨ Female vengeance
This book was a wild ride covering an amazing range of topics that all somehow root themselves back in women’s autonomy, misandry, and resisting patriarchal masculinity.
If you’ve read Jane Eyre then parts of this story will be familiar, as Jane is Adele’s governess and then step-mother. Absolutely no familiarity of Jane Eyre is required to enjoy this book though.
Adele is brought to England by a man she is told is her papa after her childhood had been spent in Paris with her mother who was a Moulin dancer.
Much like Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Reader I Murdered Him follows Adele as she grows and develops and transitions from girlhood to womanhood.
Through her unreliable narration we follow Adele as she learns how to protect herself and maneuver through life as women in Victorian England, and the ways she choses to protect her friends as well.
The story is haunting and gothic and delicious, if at times fully predictable. I enjoyed the book and convinced my daughter to read it when I was done as well. Well worth the time if YA historical fiction is even a little in your interests.
✨ Sapphic
✨ Female vengeance
This book was a wild ride covering an amazing range of topics that all somehow root themselves back in women’s autonomy, misandry, and resisting patriarchal masculinity.
If you’ve read Jane Eyre then parts of this story will be familiar, as Jane is Adele’s governess and then step-mother. Absolutely no familiarity of Jane Eyre is required to enjoy this book though.
Adele is brought to England by a man she is told is her papa after her childhood had been spent in Paris with her mother who was a Moulin dancer.
Much like Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Reader I Murdered Him follows Adele as she grows and develops and transitions from girlhood to womanhood.
Through her unreliable narration we follow Adele as she learns how to protect herself and maneuver through life as women in Victorian England, and the ways she choses to protect her friends as well.
The story is haunting and gothic and delicious, if at times fully predictable. I enjoyed the book and convinced my daughter to read it when I was done as well. Well worth the time if YA historical fiction is even a little in your interests.