The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell {Goodreads}
Published by Quercus Publishing in 2016
The Madwoman Upstairs follows Samantha Whipple, the last
descendant of the famous Brontë family. Her father is dead and the public
believes she has inherited some important pieces of the Brontë’s literary
estate, which is not true as long as she’s concerned since she has never seen
said estate. When she starts attending Oxford College however, everything
changes. She stars receiving books that belonged to her father and the whole
situations turns into a scavenger hunt to unfold her family legacy.
First of all, this is such a funny book and I
didn’t expect it to be so. I giggle a lot because Samantha is a very unique and
awkward main character. Some of the dialogues are true gems although sometimes
she got on my nerves as well. There are a lot of literary discussions not just
about the Brontë sisters but also about literary criticism and what is the
right way to analyze a literary text: it is okay to take into account the
author’s life or should be the text regarded in isolation?
The book
goes through most Brontë novels and spoils both Jane Eyre and Wuthering
Heights from beginning to end and some plot lines from Agnes Grey, Vilette and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – and although
I haven’t read these last three I wasn’t bother because there weren’t major
spoilers and I don’t think it would affect my reading in the
future. The reason why this happens is because Samantha is constantly comparing
the novels to the authors and finding connections between the narratives and
the Brontës’ real life. It was what her father showed her to do since he was
obsessed with the idea that everything that is within the novels happened in
real life to the sisters. It’s rather interesting and I found it quite amusing
and entertaining.
There is a
bit of romance on top of all the mystery. I don’t think it took over the story
but I also didn’t find it convincing. I had a lot of fun reading this but when
I finished it, I felt something was missing and up until this day, if I’m
honest, I cannot really put my finger on what it is. Anyways, I would recommend
The Madwoman Upstairs especially if
you like and are interested in the Brontë sisters and enjoy funny mystery
novels.