Jean Rhys Blue Plaque

About This Blue Plaque

Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams in 1890 on the Caribbean island of Dominica, was a celebrated British novelist best known for her masterpiece “Wide Sargasso Sea.” This novel serves as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” offering a postcolonial perspective on the “madwoman in the attic,” Bertha Mason.

Rhys drew upon her own experiences as a White Creole woman to create complex female characters struggling to find their place in a male-dominated, colonialist society. Prior to her literary success, she lived a bohemian lifestyle in Paris during the 1920s, associating with influential modernist writers like Ford Madox Ford.

From 1936 to 1938, Rhys resided in Flat 22 of Paultons House, located in the posh London neighborhood of Chelsea. Chelsea has long been a haven for artists and writers, with Rhys joining the ranks of notable residents such as Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and George Eliot. It was during her time at this address that Rhys worked on her acclaimed novel “Good Morning, Midnight,” a semiautobiographical tale of a middle-aged woman grappling with loneliness and despair in Paris.

Rhys’s literary legacy was cemented with the publication of “Wide Sargasso Sea” in 1966, which earned her international acclaim and a belated recognition of her immense talent. Her works, characterized by their exploration of themes such as displacement, alienation, and the complexities of female identity, continue to resonate with readers today. Jean Rhys passed away in 1979, leaving behind a powerful and enduring contribution to 20th-century literature.