Reader, I Murdered Him

Reader, I Murdered Him

By Betsy Cornwell

Clarion Books, 2022. 291 pages. Young Adult Fiction

Adele grew up in the shadows--first watching from backstage at her mother's Parisian dance halls, then wandering around the gloomy, haunted rooms of her father's manor. When she's finally sent away to boarding school in London, she's happy to enter the brightly lit world of society girls and their wealthy suitors. Yet there are shadows there, too. Many of the men that try to charm Adele's new friends do so with dark intentions. With a queer romance at its heart, this lush historical thriller offers readers an irresistible mix of vengeance and empowerment. 

This reimagining of Adele Varens provides an enlightening and thrilling background to the vain and precocious child in Jane Eyre. The novel, told from Adele's point of view, elaborates on her dark childhood, lonely adolescence, and eventual coming out into society. I enjoyed the themes of found family, female vengeance, and first loves. 

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