The Madwoman Upstairs: A Novel

About this book

In Catherine Lowells smart and original debut novelhailed by Deborah Harkness as a charming and memorable readthe last remaining descendant of the Bront family embarks on a modern-day literary scavenger hunt using only the clues her eccentric father left behind and the Bronts own novels. Samantha Whipple is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. Since her fathers untimely death she is the presumed heir to a long-rumored trove of diaries paintings letters and early novel drafts passed down from the Bront familya hidden fortune never revealed to anyone outside of the family but endlessly speculated about by Bront scholars and fanatics. Samantha however has never seen this alleged estate and for all she knows its just as fictional as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. But everything changes when Samantha enrolls at Oxford University and long lost objects from her past begin rematerializing in her life beginning with an old novel annotated in her fathers handwriting. With the help of a handsome but inscrutable professor Samantha plunges into a vast literary mystery and an untold family legacy one that can only be solved by repurposing the tools of literature and decoding the clues hidden within the Bronts own novels. A fast-paced adventure from start to finish for readers who devoured The Weird Sisters and Special Topics in Calamity Physics The Madwoman Upstairs is a moving exploration of what happens when the greatest truth is in fact fiction.