Good fan fiction can be some of the most rewarding reading. Most people have read something that can be called fanfic, whether it’s Virgil’s “Aeneid,” based on Homer, or “Paradise Lost,” based on the Bible, or a more modern title, such as John Gardner’s “Grendel” or “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Seth Grahame-Smith.
Since their books have been wildly popular and critically acclaimed for nearly 200 years, and since they left such a small body of work, the Brontës’ novels often inspire fan fiction, some of it great literature in its own right.
Probably the best and most famous is “The Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys. Rhys was an established author when she wrote this prequel to “Jane Eyre,” and it has been called Rhys’s best novel. It tells Bertha’s story, from girlhood to her regretful marriage to Edward Rochester. In this post-colonial novel, both main characters serve as narrators and the book provides fascinating insights on its inspir