kristy bowen | writer & book artist

 A few weeks back, we got the chance to see The Housemaid , which at some point, I leaned over in the theater and whispered to J, "Oh, I see, it's a Jane Eyre story." Well, sort of. The newly hired and attractive nanny, the sexy, wealthy father. Well, maybe not what C. Bronte had in mind, but definite notes of similar stories-- Rebecca, Crimson Peak, Turn of the Screw (s ans the mysterious husband anyway ) . Most gothic novels and governess stories. It occurred to me later that really, at their heart, they are Bluebeard stories--the framework of them. The thematic threads. the outsider in a place of danger, for women in particular.  Patriarchy comes into play. As does class (its no accident that the governess sleeps in her car and has a criminal record). In The Housemaid's case, the dead wife is not locked in an attic or trapped, but walking around completely alive but entrapped nonetheless. It's a reveal that is almost as starling as the famous mid-novel one in G...