Rebecca Shaw (1) (1931–2015)
Author of A Country Affair
For other authors named Rebecca Shaw, see the disambiguation page.
Series
Works by Rebecca Shaw
Three Great Novels: The New Rector, Talk of the Village, Village Matters (2002) 15 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1931
- Date of death
- 2015-09-07
- Gender
- female
- Short biography
- Sunday Times bestselling author Rebecca Shaw is known for her heartwarming tales of English country life.
Rebecca grew up in northern England and attended a Quaker boarding school before becoming a teacher of deaf children.
She wrote 28 novels. Her biggest series of 19 books set in a fictional village called TURNHAM MALPAS chart the lives and loves of the village inhabitants.
A further six novels tell the stories of the vets, veterinary nurses and animals at a veterinary practice in the fictional market town of BARLEYBRIDGE.
She also wrote three standalone novels.
Rebecca lived with her husband in a beautiful Dorset village - Thomas Hardy country - where she found plenty of inspiration for her contemporary stories about rural life. Rebecca sadly passed away in 2015, but her stories continue to be enjoyed by readers across the globe. - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
Neville and Liz have been married for decades, but the spark went out long ago. When a new comer arrives in their quiet English village, Liz feels an immediate attraction. To combat the cracks rapidly forming in their marriage, Neal consults the local parson, Peter Harris, for advice. Meanwhile, the rest of the village is in uproar over the newcomer's presence - he runs a local market which is bringing outside elements, including crime, into their area.
Quote: "'No, you go upstairs. I'll do show more this.' He rather imagined that was something Peter would say and congratulated himself, then added 'loving contact' by patting her shoulder before collecting their cups together."
This book is the most recent in a long series about life in an English village that I typically really enjoy. However, by book 13 it really begins to feel like the author has run out of ideas and has now just turned to rehashing conflicts and issues from previous novels. We have the marriage going south, the affair, the outsider bringing new ideas into the village, the *surprise* death. It all gets a little been there, done that. I still think the series is worth reading, I just hope that the next installment, if there is one, has a little more life to it. show less
Quote: "'No, you go upstairs. I'll do show more this.' He rather imagined that was something Peter would say and congratulated himself, then added 'loving contact' by patting her shoulder before collecting their cups together."
This book is the most recent in a long series about life in an English village that I typically really enjoy. However, by book 13 it really begins to feel like the author has run out of ideas and has now just turned to rehashing conflicts and issues from previous novels. We have the marriage going south, the affair, the outsider bringing new ideas into the village, the *surprise* death. It all gets a little been there, done that. I still think the series is worth reading, I just hope that the next installment, if there is one, has a little more life to it. show less
One again this proved to be a quick easy read although some of the subjects were not in keeping with the quick easy read status. I do enjoy the charicatures that Rebecca Shaw introduced, for instance Jimbo's mother in this novel. The main characters were given storylines but some of the main characters from previous novels in the series were barely mentioned. A tricky balancing act, which I thing Shaw achieves better in the Barleybridge novels personally.
This is fifth in the Turnham Malpas series and is rather more dramatic than the previous ones. Much of the plot concerns Kate (Ms Pascoe), the new tree-hugging vegan New Age headmistress of the village school. Clearly she's up to no good, but village life goes on amongst the increasingly large cast.
The conversations and character development were no better than in previous novels, and I was a bit disappointed with the caricature and melodrama that surrounds Kate and her new friends. A lot of show more assumptions are made about New Age people, and when Peter - the Rector - stands up for Christianity, his faith is very watered down. Not that I like fiction with evangelistic fervour and verbatim repentance prayers, but this goes rather in the opposite direction with too little said.
Moreover, people seem to change without much warming. While that might reflect real life, it doesn't really work in a novel.
Still, I found this quite gripping in places and could hardly put it down. show less
The conversations and character development were no better than in previous novels, and I was a bit disappointed with the caricature and melodrama that surrounds Kate and her new friends. A lot of show more assumptions are made about New Age people, and when Peter - the Rector - stands up for Christianity, his faith is very watered down. Not that I like fiction with evangelistic fervour and verbatim repentance prayers, but this goes rather in the opposite direction with too little said.
Moreover, people seem to change without much warming. While that might reflect real life, it doesn't really work in a novel.
Still, I found this quite gripping in places and could hardly put it down. show less
The New Rector by Rebecca Shaw is the first in a series about the going-on in a rural British Village called Turnham Malpas. I have a weakness for these kind of books but this one being set in the 1990’s is far more updated that my usual reads of this type. Being set in the 1990’s makes for more modern story-lines, the main ones here deals with the new rector who loves his wife very much, but is sexually attracted to a young widow in the village. Another story-line deals with an older show more spinster who is being harassed by a school-age thug and his vicious older sister.
The village has it’s share of natives who grew up here and are fairly set in their ways but also a good deal of people who have moved out of large cities like London in search of a quieter, safer place to live and raise their families. And like all places it has its share of gossips and busy-bodies as well. When a particularly nasty murder occurs during a village fete, everyone is both fearful and curious.
I don’t know much about this series yet, but I believe that the murder in this book isn’t going to be a regular occurrence in subsequent books. This is a series about a small English village and the people who reside there as it evolves into modern times. I really enjoyed this first book and look forward to more from this series. show less
The village has it’s share of natives who grew up here and are fairly set in their ways but also a good deal of people who have moved out of large cities like London in search of a quieter, safer place to live and raise their families. And like all places it has its share of gossips and busy-bodies as well. When a particularly nasty murder occurs during a village fete, everyone is both fearful and curious.
I don’t know much about this series yet, but I believe that the murder in this book isn’t going to be a regular occurrence in subsequent books. This is a series about a small English village and the people who reside there as it evolves into modern times. I really enjoyed this first book and look forward to more from this series. show less
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- Works
- 35
- Members
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- Popularity
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- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
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- ISBNs
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