Customer Reviews

Whispers in the Village

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The much loved rector of Turham Malpas decides to leave England and do some mission work in Africa for one year. His wife, Caroline, and their twins go with him. A new pastor is assigned to the village while Peter is away, Anna, and her presence causes some conflict among the villagers. She is much more modern than the people are used to, and particularly causes division when she opens up the rectory to a down on his luck former (?) thief. Meanwhile, an organization in Turham Malpas hosts a variety of wild fund raising events in order to help fund Peter's mission work. This effort includes sponsored skinny dipping and town-wide gambling. Everything changes, however, when Peter sends news of complete devestation.

Quote: "A woman! They'd narrowly escaped having their own railway station, tolerated the coming of the wireless, then the telephone poles and TV, they'd embraced computers, mobile phones - and a blessed nuisance they were on the Saturday shopping bus - and digital this and DVD that, but a woman rector! This was one step to far."

This eleventh novel in the Turham Malpas series has its ups and its downs. The Anna storyline falls a little flat, partly because of her watery personality and partly because Peter and his family are such an engrained pillar of village life that a whole exists without him. This lack is somewhat alleviated by the charitable efforts of the townspeople, which are entertaining and endearing.