#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • 1920s Ceylon: A young Englishwoman marries a charming tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he’s keeping terrible secrets about his past, including what happened to his first wife, that lead to devastating consequencesIn this lush, atmospheric page-turner, nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper has married Laurence, the seductively mysterious owner of a vast … mysterious owner of a vast tea empire in colonial Ceylon, after a whirlwind romance in London. When she joins him at his faraway tea plantation, she’s filled with hope for their life together, eager to take on the role of mistress of the house, learn the tea business, and start a family. But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected. The plantation workers are resentful, the neighbors and her new sister-in-law treacherous. Gwen finds herself drawn to a local Sinhalese man of questionable intentions and worries about her new husband’s connection to a brash American businesswoman. But most troubling are the unanswered questions surrounding Laurence’s first marriage. Why won’t anyone discuss the fate of his first wife? Who’s buried in the unmarked grave in the forest? As the darkness of her husband’s past emerges, Gwen is forced to make a devastating choice, one that could destroy their future and Gwen’s chance at happiness.
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A delightful book. unsophisticated, romantic at its best and nothing more. A typical story that appears in many books in various variations in which a naive and inexperienced young woman married to an older wealthy man while he is holding a secret.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find depth in the book. It was possible to add some background to the racial situation in Ceylon and to all the changes that occurred during that period.
ALL IN ALL
It’s a nice ROMANTIC book.
I really enjoyed this book! It was both a love story and mystery. Easy read!
A gripping story with a descriptively exotic setting that takes place at a Ceylon tea plantation. The story unfolds with a brief scene in the early 1900s of a mother and her baby, then almost immediately jumps ahead twelve years when the wife of a tea plantation owner gives birth to twins. I kept waiting for the puzzle piece at beginning to work its way into the storyline, which it eventually does. This is a beautifully written and moving story of love, loss, secrets and forgiveness. Heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Wonderful story and descriptions
Great setting and characters – surprising story line and ending – the timeline and history of the tea business was quite interesting.
Great story, loved it
Sometimes I like a book because the author just has a way with words (such as Patricia Hampl). This book has quite simple language, but the story kept me reading.
great vacation book
Very atmospheric. An interesting story, held my interest. Ended with a twist I didn’t see coming.
Good not great! Richly drawn interiors.
I loved this book!
I loved this book! I just finished it yesterday, and it’s still very much present in my mind. One of those books you don’t want to end. I have read about 150 books so far this year, and The Tea Planter’s Wife is at the top of the list.
Laurence and Gwen are newlyweds and truly love each other. You see it in so many things they do and say; yet they are faced with challenge after challenge, and tragedies that would break anyone’s heart, and challenge any relationship. Much of the last chapter I read with tears in my eyes. Yet throughout even that there was always a sense of hope. I find myself wishing I could follow their story throughout the rest of their lives together. Never mind that this is fiction! Dinah Jefferies has done such a wonderful job bringing all these characters to life that they seem like people you know. They are faced with choices and make decisions that you might question, but in truth I can’t say I might not have done the same thing. That’s a mark of a great book to me, when the life problems they are forced to face are so real that you can’t help wondering what you would do in their place.
I can hardly wait to read this again! And I definitely will look for more Dinah Jefferies books to read!
This novel sweeps you back to a distant land in another time. The author paints a beautiful description of Ceylon that makes you feel as if you were there. Even though the characters were not fully developed, the story line is intriguing and engaging.
Really liked it
Best book I have read in a long time. I tell all my reading friends
I couldn’t put this book down.
I did not even finish the book
Romantic rubbish
Promising story line turned predictable and long winded. Disappointing.
Wonderful storytelling. Creates a clear lecture if Ceylon and the characters.
Interesting and engaging story