Customer Reviews

Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife

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Captain James Cook played a large role in early Australian history, so we hear plenty about him and his exploits. But what about the family he left behind? Marele Day must have wondered the same and rather than quickly throwing together a story based on her imaginings, she put in some serious research time and created a story that intertwines what we know about Captain Cook and his wife with some rich fiction.
In Day's book, Elizabeth Cook is an intelligent, passionate woman who devoted her life to providing a warm and happy home for her children and husband whenever he was home. It is hard to imagine maintaining this kind of wifely devotion when your husband is gone for months, and sometimes years, at a time. She suffered her tragedies alone, worried alone, and for the most part, lived alone. Even her two elder sons, that survived their early childhood, went off to boarding school at a young age. But Elizabeth possessed an inner strength and was willing to deny herself the desires of her heart to provide her family with what was best. She bore 6 children, and lost them one by one. She endured an unbelievable amount of tragedy in her life, but carried on with dignity. Seeing Captain Cook's travels through the eyes of his wife is an interesting concept. And Day does a fine job of making you forget this is a fictional characterization. An interesting read, highly recommended to any fan of historical fiction.

Mrs Cook: the Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife is the eighth novel by Australian author, Marele Day. Day takes existing Cook artefacts: letters, medallions, monuments, furniture, crockery, portraits and more, and builds a backstory for them, using her meticulous research into the life of Mrs Cook. A wealth of facts presented in an interesting and easily digestible form. We learn about things like the change of calendar in 1752, life in 18th century London, docks, ale houses, war, country fairs, charting coastlines, estimating longitude, and preparation for long sea voyages. Above all, we learn of the deep love the Cooks had for each other, and the heartache that Elizabeth Cook endured as her husband was gone for sometimes years without word. This novel is quite a departure from Day's usual style, and is reminiscent of Geraldine Brooks' technique of taking a few historical facts and embroidering them with a story. Two passages stood out or me: "Elizabeth had two husbands - the one who spent months at a time with her, with whom she had come to Yorkshire; and the imagined husband, the one who was by her side when the one in the next room was away. The one who was there every breath she took, who inhabited her body as much as she did herself. The husband made of air, and memories and yearning, who nestled into the bed beside her at night." From this passage comes the title. And "What decision would Elizabeth have made if the Almighty had revealed His plan for her? I will send you a great man and you will love each other profoundly. But he will die, and so will all of your children. Your well of grief will be so immense you'll think you can't bear it, but you will survive, living out the missing years of your loved ones' lives." An interesting and excellent read.

Elizabeth Cook outlived her husband and each of her six children. She was aged in her 90s when she died in 1835 and had been widowed for 56 years.

Around these bare biographical facts, Marele Day has written an entirely plausible novel which draws Elizabeth Cook out of the shadows of history. I enjoyed this novel, as much for the hint of the private man behind the heroic captain but also for the insights into the life of a courageous woman whose role was to wait, worry and to keep family together.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith