⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Wife’s Promise is the first in the Goswell Quartet, (Tales from Goswell), by Kate Hewitt, and although I’ve only read the first one, I am looking forward to reading the others. Written across two timelines and with two protagonists, Alice in the 1930s and Jane in the present day. A shopping list and the vicarage are the only two things they have in common as they both leave their home cities and move into the vicarage in Goswell, Cumbria. Both are finding it difficult to fit into village life and settle down. I really enjoyed The Wife’s Promise, and was rooting for them both as the book progressed. I wanted them to get out and about, immerse themselves in village life, make friends and make the vicarage their home.
I was frustrated with Jane. In particular, she was needy and selfish and I wanted to shake her up a bit, and get her to see what she had right on her doorstep! Alice’s story was a little sadder, and as the war approached, things became even harder for her.
If you enjoy a dual timeline book and village life, I would recommend The Wife’s Promise and lose yourself in Cumbrian life for a while.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Wife’s Promise by Kate Hewitt and for including me on the book tour.
Book Description
The Wife's Promise - Book 1
Alice looked at the young girl standing alone on the platform, sensing the same vulnerability she’d once felt entering the village she now called home. Then, as the child gripped her hand, the pain and sorrow Alice had held in her heart for so long softened… And in that moment, she vowed she’d always protect her – whatever the cost…
England, 1939: When Alice marries twinkly-eyed, kind-hearted vicar David, it means leaving everything from her old life behind and moving into the draughty vicarage in the beautiful but remote village of Goswell, Cumbria. Though homesick, Alice is determined to make a new life there for herself and her husband.
But soon tragedy strikes, and she is devastated when war breaks out and David chooses to sign up to fight. But everything changes when Alice is asked to take in a child evacuee, and she makes a promise to protect this girl, no matter what it costs her…
Now: When Jane and her family move to the small coastal village of Goswell where her husband grew up, she’s afraid she might have made a huge mistake. Their new home – in what had once been the vicarage – feels a million miles from their previous fast-paced life in New York City, and Jane struggles with her empty days that seem lonely and purposeless.
But then she finds a small note, forgotten behind a shelf in the pantry. A note written in the Second World War. By a woman named Alice, whose incredible story has the power to change everything…
Two wives’ stories – told over 70 years apart – about courage, finding a home, and how the unexpected arrival of someone else’s story in your life can change your own. Perfect for fans of Fiona Valpy, Lucinda Riley and Barbara O’Neal.
This novel can be enjoyed as a standalone.
Previously published as The Vicar’s Wife by Katharine Swartz.
Author Bio
Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.
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