Dinah Jefferies

In Ceylon, between the First and Second World Wars, pre-Independence, a young wife arrives from England to join her new husband on his tea plantation. ‘The Tea Planter’s Wife’ by Dinah Jeffries is a portrayal of an island riven by racial differences, a marriage riven by an inability to be honest, concluding that in the end skin colour should not matter.
As her ship from England docks in Colombo, Gwen Hooper feels faint and is helped by a charming dark-skinned man. This is our show more introduction to Savi Ravasinghe, a pivotal character, a Sinhalese portrait painter who paints the rich in Ceylon, England and America. At this first meeting, Gwen demonstrates her naivety of racial tensions between Ceylon’s native Sinhalese population and the Tamil workers brought to the island by the British tea planters to work on the plantations. Soon after, trying to help an injured worker, she tramples over old sensitivities and the Raj way of doing things. I found Gwen both fascinating and a little irritating. The story is told totally from her viewpoint and, for me, her husband Laurence is rather remote. When Gwen gives birth to twins, the first, a boy, is christened Hugh. The second is a dark-skinned girl. In fear of accusations of infidelity with Savi, and rejection by her husband, Gwen panics. Her ayah Naveena takes the child to be cared for in a nearby village. Conveniently, the birth took place with only the ayah present so secrecy is assured. But Gwen lives on, haunted by her lies to her husband and her failings to her daughter.
This story hangs on the premise that Gwen feels unable to question her husband about the death of his first wife and child. When we finally get the answer in the last few pages, it seems obvious. Except of course the book is set in the late 1920s early 1930s so though obvious to a modern reader, it would not be widely known or understood at that time. To say more would give away the plot. This aside, I enjoyed this fragrant tale of the Hooper tea plantation, the difficulties faced after the Wall Street Crash, the changing times, the fashions and foods. There is a particularly unlikeable sister-in-law Verity, American vamp Christina, and bright and charming cousin-from-home Fran. The story felt alive in Ceylon. Jeffries cultivates a believable world from another time with the scents of cinnamon, sandalwood and jasmine combined with bullock dung, grease and rotting fish, servants dressed in white, and glamorous balls danced to the music of jazz. In contrast the short section in New York when Laurence and Gwen meet bankers and advertising men to launch the Hoopers Tea brand, seems remote and it was a relief to return to the lushness and complications of Ceylon.
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As I'm always fascinated by the reverberating effects down the generations of long-held family secrets, with their often corrosive effects on the lives of everyone involved, the promise of discovering the secrets why Vicky, now in her early twenties, is only just meeting a grandmother she knows nothing about was one of the reasons I felt drawn to reading this novel. I admired the way in which the author only gradually revealed the dark, complex reasons behind Clemence's decades-long show more estrangement from her family and the impact this had had, not only on her own life but also on theirs. That she had survived so much brutality was a tribute to her inner-strength but it was clear that she had also paid a high personal price for keeping her secrets by never allowing herself to commit to any long-lasting personal relationships. She was definitely my favourite character: I loved and admired her many strengths (not least her sharp-shooting ability!) but also felt saddened by all the losses she has endured. I enjoyed the relationship which developed between her and Vicky and how this, although it exposed them both (and others) to danger, ultimately allowed for past losses to be properly mourned, and for interfamilial rifts to be healed.
Although I've never been to Marrakech, the author's beautifully descriptive narrative evoked a powerfully atmospheric sense of the exotic nature of the old city, with its network of labyrinthine streets, swarming crowds and sense of mystery, as well as the beautiful Kasbah du Paradis in the Atlas mountains where Clemence lived. Able to almost feel the intense heat, smell all the different scents of flowers and herbs in her garden, as well as the spices in the souk, to see the beautiful silks, traditional carpets and furnishings in the market, I felt totally transported to this very different world.
As I hadn't read the first two novels in the author's 'Daughters of War' trilogy, I had wondered whether, not knowing the characters' backstories, I'd find it difficult to feel fully engaged with the story. However, although there were moments early on in my reading when I felt a bit confused because I didn't understand the interrelationships between some of the characters, the author's impressive storytelling skills quickly drew me into what became a truly page-turning story, one full of tension and danger, but also of the power of love. In her note to readers she explained that the inspiration for this concluding part of her trilogy came from two distinct sources. The first from watching a Michael Palin documentary which involved him taking a night train to Marrakech; the second from her discovery that Yves Saint Laurent was living there in the 1960s, hence her decision to make Vicky a young fashion designer ... a decision also influenced by the fact that in her younger days she too had studied fashion design. show less

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 show more 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. show less

The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jeffries is a 2015 Penguin publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and the LIbraryThing early reviewer program.

The Tea Planter’s Wife is an exemplary novel, written with a lush literary prose, which pulls me deep into the landscape and historical setting of colonial Ceylan.

Gwen, only nineteen, marries Laurence, a widower, after a whirlwind romance. Laurence is a tea planter running a successful plantation, and Gwen is determined show more to learn the business and be a good asset to her husband.

However, almost from the beginning, Gwen finds her husband is still haunted by the death of his first wife, the staff behaves oddly, and then Gwen finds she must cope with her sister-in-law, Verity, who wishes to keep Laurence all to herself, as well as watching another woman try to steal away her new husband.

If this were not bad enough, Gwen will soon face a crisis that will tear her heart to pieces while the atmosphere around her becomes almost oppressive.

This story is so absorbing and haunting, I couldn’t bear to continue reading it, but couldn’t stop turning pages. This book taps every emotion imaginable, as Gwen tries to navigate her new surroundings and faces one wall of opposition after another, one trial after another, while carrying a heavy burden on her heart.

I became frustrated with all the characters at one point or another, and Verity is most certainly a poisonous character, but I often found myself irritated with Laurence, who constantly turned a blind eye to those issues plaguing Gwen and the people causing her such great heartache.

This couple will encounter incredible adversity, survive hardships, and endure much heartache, make mistakes and harbor dark secrets in their souls. Naturally, the racial divide is one which causes so many misunderstandings, and it is so very sad to think how this situation could have turned out differently if not for that prejudice.

But, ultimately this is a love story, one that proves love’s power to overcome vindictiveness, jealously, grief and pain, and can give the heart the fortitude to forgive, accept, change, and move on with renewed hope.

This is a well written novel, with very interesting historical details, set in a magical location, and is packed with riveting dramas that kept me engaged and very invested in the characters on an emotional level.

I loved the atmosphere in this one, the slight Gothic tones, and the tantalizing pace that swept me away to another time and place. show less