The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies

review

The Tea Planter’s Wife is set on a tea plantation in Ceylon in the 1920s and Jefferies does a fantastic job of bringing the setting to life and exploiting the exotic beauty of the place. While the Hooper family are fairly prosperous, Gwen’s background couldn’t have been more different so her arrival on the plantation means we get to see everything with a fresh pair of eyes and the social injustices, while not the main focus on the story, add an intriguing layer. Unfortunately, Gwen’s story becomes increasingly predictable as time goes on and that predictability spoils the outcome somewhat.

When Gwen first arrives at the plantation, the presence of Laurence’s first wife is everywhere and as Gwen struggles to live up to the deceased wife’s ideal, the scenario reminded me a little bit of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, albeit without the more sinister elements. The Rebecca feel evaporates as soon as Laurence reverts back to the loving man Gwen first met, and the focus then falls on the pregnancy which was less interesting to me since I worked out what was going on very quickly. The idea of Gwen having been taking advantage of while drunk was never convincing enough for me, and although the secrets around Laurence’s first child are not revealed until much later on, the author just made it so obvious there was no real surprise there. Instead of feeling the sympathy I should’ve been feeling, I ended up being extremely frustrated with the situation because it all could’ve been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other.

For me, the most interesting part of the novel was the transition of Gwen’s character from the timid young bride to the mistress of the plantation who is tired of keeping secrets. The revelations definitely fall flat when you’ve guessed the mystery but there is a sense of real satisfaction when Gwen finally takes things into her own hands and stands up for herself. However, I did feel Laurence’s reaction was a little too muted, particularly considering it was his own heritage that was involved. The character I hated the most was Laurence’s sister, Verity, mainly because I never felt the author got to grips with her as a character. There were hints Verity’s love for her brother was more than sisterly but it was never fully explored and I never felt like I understood her motivations.

While I love books set in exotic locations, The Tea Planter’s Wife just doesn’t go deep enough into the social issues in Ceylon during this period. There is a lot going on beneath the surface but it is merely skimmed over and Gwen doesn’t spend enough time away from her family circle for us to get a real feel for the place. There are tensions between two groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamil, however there are no explanations as to why one group seems to be more socially acceptable than the other.