First published in hardcover in Great Britain by Borough Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, in 2016

This collection of original stories by today's finest women writers--including Tracy Chevalier, Francine Prose, Elizabeth McCracken, Tessa Hadley, Audrey Niffenegger, and more--takes inspiration from the opening line in Charlotte Brontë's most beloved novel, Jane Eyre. A fixture in the literary canon, Charlotte Brontë is revered by readers all over the world. Her novels featuring unforgettable, strong heroines still resonate with millions today. And who could forget one of literature's best-known lines: "Reader, I married him" from her classic novel Jane Eyre? Part of a remarkable family that produced three acclaimed female writers at a time in nineteenth-century Britain when few women wrote, and fewer were published, Bronté has become a great source of inspiration to writers, especially women, ever since. Now in Reader, I Married Him, twenty of today's most celebrated women authors have spun original stories, using the opening line from Jane Eyre as a springboard for their own flights of imagination

Foreword by Tracy Chevalier --

My mother's wedding / Tessa Hadley -- Luxury hour / Sarah Hall -- Grace Poole her testimony / Helen Dunmore -- Dangerous dog / Kirsty Gunn -- To hold / Joanna Briscoe -- It's a man's life, ladies / Jane Gardam -- Since first I saw your face / Emma Donoghue -- Reader, I married him / Susan Hill -- Mirror / Francine Prose -- A migrating bird / Elif Shafak -- Behind the mountain / Evie Wyld -- China from Buenos Aires / Patricia Park -- Reader, she married me / Salley Vickers -- Dorset gap / Tracy Chevalier -- Party girl / Nadifa Mohamed -- Transference / Esther Freud -- Mash-up / Linda Grant -- Self-seeding sycamore / Lionel Shriver -- Orphan exchange / Audrey Niffenegger -- Double men / Namwali Serpell -- Robinson Crusoe at the waterpark / Elizabeth McCracken -- Notes on the contributors -- A note on Charlotte Brontë