Romanzo genere romance-drama ambientato a Ceylon nei primi anni del secolo scorso, in pieno boom coloniale inglese, segue la storia del matrimonio delle giovane Gwen con un + maturo Laurence proprietario di una piantagione di tè. Ben scritto, ben strutturato, personaggi ben definiti e caratterizzati (con qualche "leggero" stereotipo), il punto di forza maggiore è la straordinaria capacità della Jefferies di descrivere ambienti, profumi, paesaggi, città, situazioni ma anche stati d'animo, sentimenti, rapporti umani.
Il romanzo a tratti è un po' lento e talvolta un po' ripetitivo nella descrizione dei sentimenti provati dalla protagonista, forse si potevano tagliare una 50ina di pag., cmq una lettura gradevole, avvincente ed anche emozionante in alcuni passaggi. Nel complesso lo consiglio. ( )

I buddy read this book with Erin, Stephanie, and Heather!
The Tea Planter's Wife is about a young woman named Gwen who arrives in Ceylon to start her new life as a married woman to a tea planter named Laurence who is a widower. But, before we get to met Gwen is there a prolog about a woman with a small child and I wondered what the woman would have for connections to the story.

Gwen meets on the ship Savi Ravisinghe and I was worried for a while that this would turn out to be a love-triangle, but the story thankfully never turned in that directions. However, Savi will have a role to play in the story.

As I stated above did I buddy read this with some friends of mine and that was an interesting experience with us discussed the chapters we had read once every week. But, somewhere along the way the story just didn't move forward at a pleasant pace and suddenly a break in reading and discussing the book happened and weeks passed and we just didn't read more. Then I decided that enough is enough, now I will finish the book.

So, I'm looking forward to seeing what my friends think about the rest of the books. For me, I was happy to get answers at last, but I still felt that the book story didn't really work for me and my biggest problem was that I never really cared for most of the characters in the book. Gwen just never become an interesting character, and I was constantly irritated by her attitude towards her sister-in-law Verity. And, at the same time, I found Verity highly annoying. So I was constantly frustrated with them both. And, then we have Laurence, Gwen's husband, and to be honest, he was quite dull and even the "mystery" with his dead wife felt a bit dull. The only characters I did like was Gwen's cousin Fran, but she was hardly in the book.

For me, this book just didn't work. It never really got surprising or engrossing enough to make me truly enjoy the book and the last part of the book I finished just because I had been reading the book so long that I wanted finally to get it off my reading list. I did like it enough to finish the book and I did enjoy part of the book. But, I think the book would have worked better if I had found the characters more likable or at least more interesting.

I want to thank The Crown Publishing Group for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss! ( )

A middling novel. Jefferies is a good writer and tells a good dramatic story. I was invested in the main character, and the forces that set in motion her plight, but Jefferies' shallow depiction of colonialism and racism outweighs that. Jeffries takes pains to highlight the brutal exploitation occurring at the plantation, as well as the racist prejudices of all of the White British characters (including the heroine), but ultimately her view seems sanguine, as if all of these problems can be fixed by the White plantation owners being good humane people. To be honest, the price paid for the White people turning out good appears to be the suffering born by the Sinhalese. ( )

The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jeffries is historical fiction novel set in colonial Ceylon during the 1920s. Although the novel is set some 20 plus years before Ceylon was granted independence, there were rumbles and stirrings among the natives and race and class were divided and kept apart from one another.

I enjoyed this historical romance story even though the plot was very familiar as the young British wife is brought to her husband’s tea plantation in Ceylon. She, being very naive, stumbles around going places and doing things she is told not to. As she gains knowledge and understanding of both her new country and her new husband, her life starts to seem perfect. The only ‘fly in the ointment’ is her sister-in-law, Verity, who seems to make trouble wherever she goes. The story takes a dramatic turn when she gives birth to twins.

The book gives us a very good look at the colonial plantation lifestyle with plenty of descriptions of the lush land, the people, and of course, the tea. Although predictable, the plot held my interest as I wanted to see what would happen with all the various relationships. ( )

Review can also be found in Chill and read

Gwen was living a simple happy life in England. She and her cousin Fran were very close, like sisters. Fran had lost her parents and the bond between the two girls had grown tight. But Fran never lost her spirit, she was always a happy girl. When Gwen met Laurence and married him, she knew she would have to move to Ceylon. This was not a problem to her, as she would be with the man she loved. The only inconvenience, would be that her dear cousin could not accompany her to the trip, and she had to go alone. Laurence had already left to attend to some business.

Laurence is the widowed tea planter, located in Ceylon. On one of his trips to England, he meets Gwen and he falls for her. He takes her as his second wife and promises to have and to hold for good and for bad. He has inherited the plantation from his father and he had lived there his whole life, before and after boarding school. When he lost his parents, he had to hold strong for his younger sister’s sake, as she was greatly affected by the loss.

The story starts off with a mystery woman that prepares a trunk with baby clothes. Soon after that, the story transfers twelve years later to follow the story of Gwen and Laurence in current time. The initial mystery is clarified slowly as the story progresses. Yet the whole secrets behind that mystery woman and the her action in the beginning of the book, would only become clear at the end of it. The reader may already guess part of the story, as it reveals to some point and leaves room for speculation. However, it is not that it would become boring to the point that all cards are open, and there is no interest.

The feelings that the heroes come to feel and haunt their life are very strong. They are of love, jealousy, guilt and attachment beyond the normal. It is about first impressions that lead to dreadful actions, regretted for infinity. It is about the strength inside us to hold on to what we believe, no matter the circumstances. It is about kindness to the human being next to us, not minding the race or skin color. And finally, it is about team and the beautiful Ceylon terrace of the 1900.

Thank you to NetGalley & Crown publishing for an advance copy of this book. ( )