Bertha the “Widow”

[My Weibo: @RedRedRedGingerFlower]

What does it feel like to wake up as someone else’s wife?

And not just anyone’s wife, but the wife of Rochester, the hero of the classic Jane Eyre: Bertha Mason, the madwoman locked in the attic for ten years. By then, Jane Eyre had already arrived at Thornfield Hall, and Rochester had fallen in love with her without her knowing.

Bertha: Sorry, I transmigrated at the wrong time. I won’t interrupt you two. Goodbye.

But in England, women couldn’t file for divorce on their own until 1923. What should she do?

Bertha: No problem. I’m a madwoman, after all. Watch me “burn myself to death”! There are so many eligible bachelors in Britain, and I have money. Why get in the way of someone else’s love life? I think that Sherlock Holmes is pretty good.

Sherlock Holmes: ???

Bertha: Not you. Your brother.

A few opening disclaimers:

1. I won’t break up any canon couples or bash any original characters. They’re a perfect match, born for each other, and it’s not up to the heroine, a “madwoman,” to object. (Just to clarify this line: I absolutely don’t mean to make a snide dig at Jane Eyre. Ms. Red Ginger Flower has been a mindless Bronte sisters fan for twenty-six years, and now I’m suddenly being accused of looking down on Jane Eyre because my story got featured today. I’m innocent!!!!!!!)

2. The timeline has been adjusted, using the era of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as the standard. The dates of other classic works have also been shifted. Any plot holes or factual errors are all on me.

3. The author is an idiot. I’m sorry, please stop scolding me. I’ll bow to you all and wish you an early happy new year.

4. I definitely will write Delphina, but I don’t have any ideas for it right now. I’ll start with this one and think about it!

[Next story by Ginger Flower, coming soon] A Writer’s Life in the Nineteenth Century

“If a woman is to write fiction, she must have money and a room of her own.” As Woolf once said.

Katherine Ruskin, who transmigrated to nineteenth-century England, truly came to understand the weight of those words.

In her previous life, she was a celebrated mystery writer. Now she was trapped in London a century ago:

Her family was on the verge of bankruptcy; her father was honest but unlucky, and her mother did nothing but pressure her to marry. Her beautiful elder sister was a hopeless romantic, determined to abandon her fiancé and marry the officer she loved. Her younger sister was honest but extremely old-fashioned; at sixteen, the neighbors already thought she was destined to become an old maid.

Caught in the middle, Katherine felt the pressure. After much thought, writing was the only way out.

With her modern twenty-first-century writing skills, she made her way from a country villa to London and finally established herself in literary circles. Every time a new book came out, queues formed outside the bookshops, newspapers fought to feature it on their front pages, and all of London was abuzz.

Charles Christie couldn’t stand his fiancée’s family.

He was engaged to the eldest Ruskin daughter, but they couldn’t stand each other: he thought she was frivolous, while she thought he was an old fossil. Their parents wouldn’t let them break off the engagement, and the Ruskin family was on the verge of bankruptcy, relying on the match to turn things around.

In the midst of his frustration, Charles found comfort in a serialized story by an author writing under the name “George Bell.” Most critics accused the writer of courting attention and producing work without value, but Charles, known for his refined learning, defended the author on his own, even going so far as to argue with the entire literary world.

Until the identity of “George Bell” was revealed: the author was none other than Katherine, the second daughter of the family he despised most.

Katherine: “I’m sorry my elder sister has caused you trouble, sir, but she has someone she loves and is willing to break off the engagement with you.”

Charles stared fixedly at Katherine. “...As it happens, Miss, I think I’ve also... found someone I love.”

Theme: The heroine and the second heroine are independent and self-reliant, showing that women of different personalities and backgrounds can share the same positive, hardworking spirit.