Reading Groups

In Short: Wide Sargasso Sea: The Madwoman in the Attic with Laurie Lambert

$50

1 Session

In stock

Thursday, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT September 4, 2025

The Center for Fiction

This single-session group is held in person at The Center for Fiction. Registration includes a complimentary drink from our Café & Bar.

Set in the lush Caribbean settings of Jamaica and Dominica during the aftermath of slavery, Rhys’s modernist classic depicts the troubled marriage between Antoinette, a plantation heiress (and reimagination of Charlotte Brontë’s “mad woman in the attic”), and her unnamed husband, a character based on Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. We will explore various themes, including how Rhys represents questions of freedom for women, the formerly enslaved, and even second-born sons like Rochester, who must marry to obtain financial independence.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read Wide Sargasso Sea in its entirety.

What to expect from this reading group: This will be a discussion-based group, where participants are encouraged to share their views. The instructor will moderate the conversation, offering context and framing questions.

Reading List:

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Upcoming Programming: Discuss more literature from writers of the Caribbean diaspora with Laurie Lambert in her single-session In Short on Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name this fall.

Laurie Lambert is an Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, Comparative Literature, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Fordham University.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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