A short story by Linda Grant from the collection Reader, I Married Him: Stories inspired by Jane Eyre.

In ‘The Mash Up’, a woman recalls the strain of juggling opposing cultures at her wedding.

Edited by Tracy Chevalier, the full collection, Reader I Married Him, brings together some of the finest and most creative voices in fiction today, to celebrate and salute the strength and lasting relevance of Charlotte Brontë’s game-changing novel and its beloved narrator.

Reviews

Praise for the full collection, READER, I MARRIED HIM:

‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL

‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD

‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN

‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL

About the author

Linda Grant is the author of six novels and four works
of non-fiction. Her second novel, When I Lived in Modern Times, won the Orange Prize for Fiction. The Clothes on
Their Backs was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her
family memoir, Remind Me Who I Am, Again, won the Mind
Book of the Year and the Age Concern Book of the Year. She
lives in London. Linda Grant’s copy of Jane Eyre is a navy
blue hardback with the Latin motto of her school embossed
in gold on the cover. It was awarded for winning the Rosa
B Chambers prize for Reading Aloud, an accomplishment
which finally found an application at literary festivals.