The Madwoman Upstairs

I have just finished my favorite novel of the year.  For all of you former APES, especially those of you who liked Jane Eyre, I really cannot recommend The Madwoman Upstairs highly enough.

This debut novel is a combination of academic adventure, literary treasure hunt, and family novel. I know. It sounds weird and it is. Samantha Whipple is the last descendent of the Bronte family. She enrolls in Oxford as a literature student.  While there, she is forced to face the death of her father who left behind clues that help her unravel an academic mystery.  And there is a romance. And it has a lot of funny pokes at literary criticism.

I know. I KNOW. I'm not really convincing you. But Catherine Lowell does an excellent job capturing the incisive observations of her narrator. Moreover, the language she uses and the analogies she draws are startling and often bitingly funny.   For example, she describes Samantha's father hate-frying bacon by writing:  "Dad was a vegetarian, but he enjoyed the way bacon self-destructed in the pan by stewing in its own grease -- like all liars, cowards, and idiots, he used to say."

I love how she skewers some aspects of academia. When Samantha's tutor accuses her of being desperately alone and that is why this madcap mystery is compelling her to act she responds,  "I don't think you're allowed to blame me for attaching significance to imaginary things. Not when you teach literature."

I'm not sure who the audience genuinely is for this book, outside of lit teacher and those who couldn't get enough  Jane Eyre.  I really enjoyed it (and dog-eared the heck out of it).  Highly recommend.