Jean Rhys
Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, the woman who would become known throughout the literary world as Jean Rhys, was born on August 24, 1890, in Roseau, Dominica, one of the former English colonies in the Caribbean. Like the heroine of her most famous work, Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys was of Creole heritage; her father was British while her mother was a native white West Indian. In fact, Rhys had a great deal in common with the character of Antoinette Cosway, and her personal experiences likely shaped...