Book Description: Jane Hatton and her British husband Andrew relocate from New York City to a small village on the Cumbrian coast. Jane has been city-based and career-driven but when her fourteen year old daughter Natalie falls in with the wrong crowd at school in Manhattan, she and Andrew decide to try country living. However Jane has trouble getting used to the silence and solitude of a remote village. Natalie hates her new school, and eleven-year-old Ben struggles academically. Only seven-year-old Merrie enjoys country life. Has Jane made a horrible mistake? The Hattons have bought the old vicarage in the village. When Jane finds a scrap of shopping list, she grows curious about Alice, the vicar’s wife who lived there years before. As we follow the twin narratives of Jane, in the present, and Alice in the 1930s we discover that both are on a journey to discover their true selves, and to address their deepest fears.
My Thoughts: This is quite an interesting read. It drew me in from page one.
The lives of two vicar wives, two different perspectives but yet, oh!so!the!same! Funny how life can be so much the same in two different times zones . . . one in the present and one in the 1930's!
The story begins with the Hatton family moving from New York to a small, very small English village. Jane Hatton is a business woman, the mother of three and quite independent. Alice (the 1930's vicar wife) is inexperienced and wide-eyed with youthful innocence. But yet, these two women have some of the same issues in life.
Jane finds a scrap of a grocery list when she is cleaning and painting one of the pantries. Who ever heard of having two pantries in a big ole' house anyway?!?! Not quite sure Jane is not already having some resentment as she tries to, well fights to, maintain some of her sanity in this very small village. And oh! the silence. Silence can be deafening when one is use to the noise of a big city!
Then there's Alice from the 1930's. Alice is young and it seems that she and her husband may never conceive a child. Alice goes into somewhat of a depression wanting and not conceiving a child. But when Alice's husband must go off to war, she is left to run it all and finds she can.
The struggles, the faith, the sacrifices and the love these two women have makes for quite a story!
This is one great read with a mix of contemporary and historical women's fiction!
*This book was provided for review by Kregel Publications*
Meet the Author:
After spending three years as a diehard New Yorker, Katharine Swartz now lives in the Lake District with her husband, an Anglican minister, their five children, and a Golden Retriever. She enjoys such novel things as long country walks and chatting with people in the street, and her children love the freedom of village life--although she often has to ring four or five people to figure out where they've gone off to!
She writes women's fiction as well as contemporary romance for Mills & Boon Modern under the name Kate Hewitt, and whatever the genre she enjoys delivering a compelling and intensely emotional story. Find out more about her books at www.katharineswartz.com.Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Lion Fiction; 1st New edition edition (October 24, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1782640703
- ISBN-13: 978-1782640707
I read this book last month and absolutely LOVED it. It was such a lovely story. I just passed the book on to my mom to read after raving about it so much. I've told many others about it. I hope the author continues to write such beautiful stories.
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