∎ Libro Free The caretaker wife Barbara Whitehead 9780385127783 Books

The caretaker wife Barbara Whitehead 9780385127783 Books

Download As PDF : The caretaker wife Barbara Whitehead 9780385127783 Books

The caretaker wife Barbara Whitehead 9780385127783 Books

It was not an easy read despite being only a 172 page book. It was interesting on different levels, there was almost no romance. It is a marriage of convenience and the couple spends 80% of the book apart. Normally, that would be DNF but here it worked, there are some letters between the couple but it's not a romance built through letters. It shows the heroine's struggle on being the caretaker wife, she succeeds but there are doubts and something one does not find often, the heroine has a crush on another man, not like in some books where the hero knows and sets out to correct heroine opinion. It is more part of the heroine growing into her own. I guess one could say it was realistic, spinster heroine who had been in charge of parental estate marries impoverished widower who in turn returns to his fist love, the sea. It is set clearly out at the start, both dealing with the cards life dealt them and when he finally returns, it's not love at first side, there is no conflict, just showing us how the couple becomes, well a couple.


Tags : The caretaker wife [Barbara Whitehead] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Barbara Whitehead,The caretaker wife,Doubleday,0385127782

The caretaker wife Barbara Whitehead 9780385127783 Books Reviews

I first read this book in high school, and have read it again several times since then.
A Caretaker’s Wife couldn’t be more unlike most HR stories currently being published. I read this after just finishing Carolyn Jewel’s Surrender to Ruin and the differences could not be more stark. In my view, Jewel’s story was all sex and no story. Moreover, it gave no sense of being set in the early 19th century.
A Caretaker’s Wife, on the other hand, is all story and virtually no sex. There is even virtually no romance. It is a marriage of convenience story, with little attention to the marriage. Much emphasis is given to the interesting depictions of history and setting - early 19th century droving, the allure of witchcraft (alongside the easy demonisation of women when things go “wrong”), farming practices of the time, the battle of Trafalgar and British fears of invasion by Napoleon’s forces.
The hero of ACW is a naval officer, grief-stricken at the recent death of an adored, beautiful but profligate wife, and horrified to learn of the debts she has left, who has been called back to duty.
As well as being left with horrific debts, he is responsibile for five young children, with baby twins still in the care of a wet nurse.
In desperation, he marries a competent, plain, thirty year old country “lady” to care for his children and estate in his lengthy (possibly permanent) absence.
This is a story in the old HR style, with a largely absent hero, who is almost invisible, never well fleshed. It is therefore somewhat unconvincing when Whitehead has him declare that he now loves the heroine - who he he has seldom met since they were children. (A few more letters from him would have helped turn that situation around).
The heroine is the much more interesting member of the couple, particularly when she is forced to acknowledge that her treatment of her step-daughter and her infatuation with a beautiful young man have revealed her to be considerably less superior to her predecessor than she once thought. (Probably my favourite part of the book.) In her defence, she is not just a good manager but a defender of her husband’s children when it matters, especially when she confronts the malevolent nursery maid who is caring for them when she arrives at her new home.
For some weird reason, I enjoyed this story, even though the romance is lacklustre by contemporary standards and there are stereotypes plus melodramas aplenty. Maybe because it includes a bunch of letters, which I always enjoy.
It was not an easy read despite being only a 172 page book. It was interesting on different levels, there was almost no romance. It is a marriage of convenience and the couple spends 80% of the book apart. Normally, that would be DNF but here it worked, there are some letters between the couple but it's not a romance built through letters. It shows the heroine's struggle on being the caretaker wife, she succeeds but there are doubts and something one does not find often, the heroine has a crush on another man, not like in some books where the hero knows and sets out to correct heroine opinion. It is more part of the heroine growing into her own. I guess one could say it was realistic, spinster heroine who had been in charge of parental estate marries impoverished widower who in turn returns to his fist love, the sea. It is set clearly out at the start, both dealing with the cards life dealt them and when he finally returns, it's not love at first side, there is no conflict, just showing us how the couple becomes, well a couple.