Author(s): Jean Rhys

Classics

Rhys's voice is starkly simple, yet sharp as nails. Autobiographically inspired, Rhys created stories of the slightly adrift everywomanlooking for an anchor in a cold, hostile landscape. Her heroine in Voyage in the Dark is Anna Morgan, a young woman in her lateteens, relocated to England from her beloved home in the WestIndies. She works as a chorus girl, traveling the countryto dank boarding rooms and shabby theaters. Fortune seems to grabher one day in the shape of a wealthy, older man who sets her upin London, calling for her as his needs dictate. Anna falls inlove with him, and allows herself to rely on him totally.When he grows tired of her, she begins a long spiraling decline. This is poignant, tense writing by the woman whom A. Alvarez called"the best living English novelist."