The Rector's Wife [Import] [Paperback]

Joanna Trollope (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Black Swan; Black Swan Edition edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0552994707
• ISBN-13: 978-0552994705
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,746,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joanna Trollope has been writing fiction for more than 30 years. Some of her best known works include The Rector's Wife (her first #1 bestseller), A Village Affair, Other People's Children, and Marrying the Mistress. She was awarded the OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honors List for services to literature. She lives in England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Her Best, December 6, 2001

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rector's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read just about all of Joanna Trollope's wonderful books, I have come to regard "The Rector's Wife" as her very best, for so many reasons.

For those of us who have ever felt the despair of knowing that love alone cannot save a marriage; for those of us who have been drawn into a loved-one's depression and cannot break free; and for any mother alive who has had a hurting, unpopular child--this book describes feelings that are impossible to put into words.

Anna Bouverie (yes, I see the parallel to Madame Bovary, but Anna has more soul) is the wife of a village rector. Her life is rigidly circumscribed by the expectations of her husband's parisioners. Thus, it is important that she head certain "rotas" (I love that word; British for "rotations," meaning committee members who take turns doing church chores). It is imperative that she appear impeccable in her clothing, her behavior, her mothering, and just about everything else. This is not easy, as her stolid, dogmatic husband Peter makes such a paltry living that their children have to wear parishioners' second-hand giveaways. In fact, the Bouveries are living in a kind of static hell, although nobody but poor, miserable schoolgirl Flora seems to realize it, and her perceptions are all about being a misfit in her horrid school.

Peter and Anna are sustained by a bright vision of the future: Peter hopes to be named archdeacon, which will change their circumstances considerably. The bitter loss of this hope is the catalyst that eventually destroys Peter--and sets Anna free.

As Peter sinks inexorably into a deep, surly depression, Anna's attempts to reach him, to connect as they did when their marriage was young, are angrily rebuffed. On her own, metaphorically at least, Anna, desperate to remove Flora from the hated school and place her in another where she can thrive, takes a practical step. She gets a job stacking shelves in a supermarket, so she can earn enough money to pay for the new school.

The outraged gossip from a secretly delighted parish (not only is the rector's wife working; but she is placing their child in a Catholic school! Horrors!) Peter's icy, enraged reaction, and Anna's rebirth as a woman form the crux of the rest of the story. Events simply evolve, unstoppable and unpreventable, even as they race to their (...)conclusion.

I love this book. I love the truth of it. I love Trollope's eye for rural British life; I love her characterizations; I love her understated and measured style of writing. If you only read one Joanna Trollope book, make this the one.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars expanding her horizons, October 16, 2000

By 

Krista - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rector's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

The beautiful Anna Bouverie (echoes of Madame Bovary) has lived for twenty years as the wife a poorly paid rural rector and mother to their two children. Her half-hearted approach to tasks at church disappoints the meddlesome, but well-intentioned, ladies of the church committee.

When her husband is turned down for a much-needed promotion, Anna takes matters into her own hands. In order to raise money for her daughter's private school tuition and her son's road trip to India, Anna takes on a job at the local supermarket. To the consternation of the church ladies, the outrage of her husband, the embarrassment of her son, and her own personal delight, she keeps the job even after her money woes are lightened by the award of a scholarship to her daughter.

The job begins a broadening of Anna's perspective that extends beyond produce and canned goods. As she attracts both the notice and the desire of several men, she turns to one for the affection that is missing from her relationship with her husband.

Although it has its share of sadness and tragic turns, overall this is a story of personal growth and self discovery. Trollope's lucid prose and incisive characterizations make the book a pleasure to read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely love this book!, June 8, 1999

By 

Stephanie Cowell - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rector's Wife (Mass Market Paperback)

All I can say is I love this book so much and have read it about five times. More than the story of a rector's wife, it's the story of a sensitive, caring woman trying to keep all the needs of her family together and yet care for them in her own way...in this case taking a job so she can send her daughter to private school. The small act of this job is a terrible affront to the wage earning of her husband and the small English parish. Her children are so real and so is her life. It deeply deeply touches me. There are not many books I read so often, but this is one of them.