Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates—a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is even her real name.

Meet Eddie. Recently widowed, he has become Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident—ever since his wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie—not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, but he could also offer her the kind of protection she craves.

Yet as the two fall for each other, Jane is haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty and successful entrepreneur with a rags-to-riches origin story. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can Jane win Eddie’s heart before her past—or his—catches up with her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on Jane Eyre, in a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried.