The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries was my seventh read for 2017. I found it to be an engaging story, set in the exotic land of Ceylon during the 1920's and beyond. Gwen, the wife of the tea planter, grew on me as the story unfolded. My heart ached for her sorrows and worries as she tried to piece together the life her husband had prior to their marriage and who she could trust around her. An interesting setting goes a long way for me and the descriptive narratives of Ceylon and the workers on the plantations made it possible for me to really connect with Gwen and her daily struggles.

A longer read, it still kept my interest and while I had more or less guessed the general outcome I still appreciated the realistic ending (as opposed to some sort of fluffy everyone ends up happy ending). I gave this three stars since I was able to see about halfway through where the book was going but all in all it was a mysterious story. It honestly reminded me in a (very) small way of Daphne Du Maurer's Rebecca, which I absolutely love.



The Tea Planter's Wife by Dina Jeffries
432 pages
Published by Crown