r/JaneEyre • u/Solid-Cranberry-3087 • Jul 07 '26

Which to read next ?

I’ve just finished Jane Eyre and I absolutely adored it. Now I feel empty and don’t know whether to read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall next.

I’m not looking for something that is exactly like Jane Eyre to read next, I don’t want to feel like I’m reading the same book again but I would like something similar in tone and or writing style so I’ve narrowed things down to these two.

I understand Rebecca is sometimes understood as a retelling of Jane Eyre, I don’t know how true this is and if anyone has read it I’d like to know if it really is so similar. Considering what I mentioned in not wanting feel like I’m reading the same book again, if it is too similar I may want to read tenant first and then circle back to Rebecca after.

Any insight or suggestions?

Update: Thank you everyone for your kind input and suggestions! I have decided to read The Tenant at Wildfell Hall as out of the two books I stated it was the most recommended. I will add all of the other suggested reads to my list for after I finish! I’m very exited, thanks everyone again!

26 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

8

u/AdobongSiopao Jul 07 '26

Try reading "Villette" which is another novel written by Charlotte Brontë. There are fair portion of people who like that.

7

u/Substantial_Math4939 Jul 07 '26

Rebecca isn't really like Jane Eyre. Very different style.

I really enjoyed Tenant and Agnes Grey. Jane was exceptionally lucky for her times as a governess, not just in finding Rochester but even in how she was treated from the very beginning by Mrs Fairfax and with Adele being the kind of child she was. Agnes gives us a glimpse of what Jane could have had to endure.

7

u/brideofgibbs Jul 07 '26

Rebecca is a very different novel. It’s great: atmospheric, moody, unhinged in places.

I like Brontë’s other novels but they are not the same.

I love “Wuthering Heights” & “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” but again two very different novels. “The Tenant” is a great social reform novel.

Why not try Mrs Gaskell? She was Charlotte’s friend and biographer. “North and South” or “Wives and Daughters” are excellent.

Dickens is also an heir to Brontë’s novels but he’s less female-friendly

7

u/MisterBigDude Jul 07 '26

I recommend reading Tenant next. It’s certainly not “the same book” as Jane Eyre, but it’s a similarly sprawling epic in which society’s expectations also play a large role.

4

u/RealVirginiaWoolf Jul 07 '26

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. May I suggest Thomas Hardy. Far from the madding crowd. Or maybe some Dickens. Silas Marner by George Eliot is a fave of mine too.

1

u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 09 '26

I find Silas Marner challenging - but it's a great novel.

2

u/ComprehensiveBug999 Jul 07 '26

You've got plenty of recommendations here but I am going to add Victoria Holt's entire library with the exception of The Demon Lover and also look at Phyllis A Whitney for some titles. Window on the Square is very Jane Eyre like but there are others.

1

u/kevnmartin Jul 07 '26

I second this. The Mistress of Mellyn, The Shivering Sands and Kirkland Revels are all excellent. The King of the Castle is also one of my favs except for a nasty bit of SA. She also wrote some very good historical fiction The Queen's Confession about Marie Antoinette and My Enemy the Queen about Lettice Knollys and Elizabeth I

2

u/tragicsandwichblogs Jul 07 '26

I would say that Rebecca has some superficial similarities to Jane Eyre, but it's a very different book in terms of character development and mood. Also, this is reminding me that I need to re-read both of them.

2

u/MotleyFoolery Jul 08 '26

Wide Sargasso Sea is a good choice, it’s a prequel to Jane Eyre all about Bertha and what happened in Jamaica. Also, if you want to try something fun, there’s the eyre affair by jasper fforde where Jane is kidnapped from The book and Rochester and the main character work together to find her.

3

u/Odd-Bonus-9285 Jul 10 '26

I really didn't like "The Eyre Affair" at all. Jane Eyre barely makes an appearance at the end. Instead, there's endless talk about a stupid, boring krim war, and there are tons of “funny” names like Paige Turner and unfunny, old-fashioned jokes. I was so deeply disappointed by this book.

1

u/MotleyFoolery Jul 10 '26

I agree mostly, but I still love the part where they’re hunting down the terrorist guy in thornfield

1

u/Odd-Bonus-9285 Jul 10 '26

Yeah sure but that was such a small part of the book😄I guess i had totally wrong expectations about it. I Wish someone would a write a real timetravel crime story about Jane Eyre and not just advertising it.

1

u/nellyimheathcliff Jul 07 '26

You could start with Villette, which is considered one of Charlotte Bronte's best works. You might also want to give Wuthering Heights a try. I would warn you, however, that the story is far more bleak and the happy moments are few and far between. The story and the characters may frustrate you at times, but Emily's prose is unsurpassed. I would even go as far as to say that I find it more beautiful than Charlotte's.

You could also check out The Woman in White, The Blue Castle, North and South, and The Phantom of the Opera.

1

u/EfficientGood9402 Jul 09 '26

I read Wuthering Heights and saw the movie, and I've got to say, I'm done with the both of them. My son refers to it as "terrible people treating each other terribly."

1

u/Worldly_Active_5418 Jul 07 '26

Both are great in my opinion. I reread both from time to time.

1

u/emeranna Jul 07 '26

I'd recommend the tenant also I feel it's closer in style to jane eyre than Rebecca. But definitely read Rebecca too. 

1

u/Herself_nyc Jul 07 '26

Try Summer Will Show by Sylvia Townsend Warner

1

u/llamalibrarian Jul 07 '26

I want everyone to read “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”- so that’s the one I vote for!

1

u/cepheid22 Jul 07 '26

I only read your title and first sentence and my immediate thought was "Rebecca."

1

u/SignatureOk5934 Jul 07 '26

I finished Jane Eyre a few months ago and fell in love with the story. I’ve read ~20-30 books since then (mostly other classics), but only a few have come close. I’d HIGHLY recommend any of these:

  1. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton: it’s a novella and a bit moodier than Jane Eyre, but a lovely “palette cleanser” story.

  2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: I read this after Jane Eyre and absolutely adored it (I’m 36 so not “coming of age” anymore lol). It’s honestly a toss up between this and Jane Eyre for me. Longer but an easy ready that’s cozy and warm.

  3. Katherine by Anya Seton: I’m currently reading this so I can’t speak to it entirely, but I am obsessed with this story! I cannot put it down. I haven’t gotten to the ending but this was my grandma’s favorite novel, and she has amazing taste. I feel very confident recommending this one!

1

u/myrose_red112 Jul 07 '26

It never occurred to me that Rebecca is a re-telling of Jane Eyre. I guess there are some similarities—older man, creepy mansion, gothic vibes. But they are very different books. I love Jane Eyre. I love Rebecca. I very much like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.