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hoadjie's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book!! The story the characters are amazing and you just get pulled in. I felt all the emotions of the characters. The author did an amazing job.
Great story about a young lovely lady falling in love getting married and moving to strange country, and problems she had to face on her own.
Looking forward to picking up another book by Dinah Jefferies.
Great story about a young lovely lady falling in love getting married and moving to strange country, and problems she had to face on her own.
Looking forward to picking up another book by Dinah Jefferies.
hally_p's review against another edition
5.0
Oooh this was such a great book! Exactly what I needed, a beautiful sweeping story that had me spellbound. So well written with an authentic storyline, just when I thought I knew where things were headed the twists and turns had me, I loved all the characters it couldn’t have been told any better. Will definitely be reading more of Dinah jefferies books in the near future
jbarr5's review against another edition
5.0
The tea planter's wife by Jefferies_ Dinah
Story of how time goes from past after she's gone and Gwen is the new wife and she gives Lawrence a boy. There is also a girl but she's a different color and she is able to stay in touch with the one caring for her.
Lawrence has other conquests and pursues them while keeping his wife happy.
Love learning about the tea plants and how they are processed in their plant factory.
NY Stock market crash throws the whole estate into turmoil as he must leave to tend to business, with Christine...
Things just aren't right since someone tried to kill her with drugs...
Loved the mystery and have read other book sthat state the same facts of the birth.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Story of how time goes from past after she's gone and Gwen is the new wife and she gives Lawrence a boy. There is also a girl but she's a different color and she is able to stay in touch with the one caring for her.
Lawrence has other conquests and pursues them while keeping his wife happy.
Love learning about the tea plants and how they are processed in their plant factory.
NY Stock market crash throws the whole estate into turmoil as he must leave to tend to business, with Christine...
Things just aren't right since someone tried to kill her with drugs...
Loved the mystery and have read other book sthat state the same facts of the birth.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
twstdtink's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite the fact that it made me deeply uncomfortable for all 413 pages of it. Set in (British) Ceylon, current Sri Lanka, in the 1920's/30's, the novel covers many fascinating aspects of that era: plantation life, segregation, sexism, prohibition, the far flung effects of the Wall Street Crash. Although these topics are not new by any means, this book is unique because it takes place in such a lush and exotic country. Jefferies does a good job of keeping these topics in the background, and not overwhelming the reader, by navigating the story through the eyes of Gwen Hooper, new wife to the widowed Laurence, owner of a vast Ceylon tea empire. Gwen is just 19 at the start of the book. Her naivety keeps readers from discovering things that will later prove to be important. Which is what gives the story it's unsettling feeling. As the reader, you know that horrible things are afoot. But, the characters in the book keep behaving as if things are normal or ignoring warning signs, and the effect is that you always feel like something bad is about to happen.
samyukta_24's review against another edition
4.0
A historical novel about a newlywed couple, Gwen and Laurence Hooper, against the backdrop of a tea plantation in Ceylon. Faced with a terrible choice, the plot thickens as more and more secrets come spilling out, threatening to destroy everything Gwen has to live for.
I loved the pacing of the plot, the whole atmosphere, and the emotions of the characters throughout the book. The plot twist was also comfortably placed at a very nail-biting position. The only problem I had with the book was the portrayal of a few of the characters, such as Laurence’s overly-dramatic sister, Verity, and the “seductive American” Christina. They felt very one-dimensional to me, and their plotlines were resolved too hurriedly.
But other than that, the book was an incredibly engrossing read, with a very unique dilemma, set in a grandly atmospheric setting.
I loved the pacing of the plot, the whole atmosphere, and the emotions of the characters throughout the book. The plot twist was also comfortably placed at a very nail-biting position. The only problem I had with the book was the portrayal of a few of the characters, such as Laurence’s overly-dramatic sister, Verity, and the “seductive American” Christina. They felt very one-dimensional to me, and their plotlines were resolved too hurriedly.
But other than that, the book was an incredibly engrossing read, with a very unique dilemma, set in a grandly atmospheric setting.
ckjaer88's review against another edition
3.0
It was alright, a bit longwinded and apart from the main drama, the most part was very predictable.
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
3.0
Gwendolyn Hopper travels from England to Celyon to meet her new husband that she fell in love with back in England. However life in Celyon is not what she thought. It was alright, not my cup of tea but not badly written. I was just not hooked on the story, felt rather quiet and calm without much happening, more a study of characters.
slim_oysterhiatus's review against another edition
2.0
Not a bad book, with shakespearean levels of convenient relationships and almost unbelievable coincidences, but I did have to force myself to finish it. I felt no sympathy for any of the characters. The plot is full of secrets between characters, most easily figured out long before actually revealed, and the overly prolonged suspense is infuriating. Too many sex scenes, and we never do learn why Laurence always hated Savi. Of course it is a tragic story, but there is never a felicitous event throughout the storyline; all the characters are miserable hiding their sides of the secrets, and the descriptions of their melancholy and their reserved, taciturn relationships with each other is relentless.
chatdunoirreadsalot123's review against another edition
2.0
This story started out great and really had the potential to be another favorite historical fiction, but unfortunately, the whole story just felt rather flat and very repetitive. Gwen, our main character didn’t have any depth what so ever.