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A review by jacki_f
The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies
4.0
At the age of 19, Gwendolyn Hooper arrives in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to join her new husband. Laurence is a widower who owns a tea plantation. Gwen is giddily in love and full of optimism about her new life. However she quickly finds that life in Ceylon is more complicated than she anticipated. Her husband seems moodier, changed. There seems to be some kind of mystery about what happened to his first wife and then Gwen stumbles across a child's grave which no one wants to talk about. The manager of the plantation is unfriendly and Laurence's sister also seems to have her own agenda. Then there is a glamorous American woman who seems very interested in her husband. When Gwen gets pregnant, she thinks that the new baby will make everything better, but instead it's quite the opposite.
I have mixed feelings about this book - it's an easy and engaging book to read with a fantastic sense of place. I really enjoyed being transported to 1920s Ceylon. However Gwen is an annoying main character who could have made half her problems go away if she would only communicate better! I also felt that many of the other characters were under-developed. The author seemed to have put a lot of thought into their back stories but less into making them fully rounded people. I wanted more clarity on various plot points - marriages would suddenly happen for example.
At the book's heart however is a good story that is set in an exotic and appealing location. I always think it's a good sign when I'm not reading a book and I find myself wondering what's going to happen to the characters.
Thank you to Penguin Books and Net Galley for giving me an advance copy to review.
I have mixed feelings about this book - it's an easy and engaging book to read with a fantastic sense of place. I really enjoyed being transported to 1920s Ceylon. However Gwen is an annoying main character who could have made half her problems go away if she would only communicate better! I also felt that many of the other characters were under-developed. The author seemed to have put a lot of thought into their back stories but less into making them fully rounded people. I wanted more clarity on various plot points - marriages would suddenly happen for example.
At the book's heart however is a good story that is set in an exotic and appealing location. I always think it's a good sign when I'm not reading a book and I find myself wondering what's going to happen to the characters.
Thank you to Penguin Books and Net Galley for giving me an advance copy to review.