Product Description

For twenty years, Anna Bouverie, as a priest's wife, has served God and the parish in a variety of ways. She has baked for the Brownies, delivered parish magazines, washed and ironed her husband's surplices and clothed herself and her children in jumble-sale items. When her husband fails to gain promotion to archdeacon and retreats into isolated bitterness, and the bullying of her daughter at the local comprehensive reaches an intolerable level, Anna rebels. She takes a job in the local supermarket where she earns her own money, her sense of self-worth, the shocked disapproval of the parish and the icy fury of her husband. She also attracts the passionate interest of three very different men, each of whom was to play a significant part in the blossoming of her life ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154171 in Books
• Published on: 1992-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From the Back Cover
'This is Trollope's finest novel to date.Prepare to be wittily and wisely entertained by an exceptional writer'Daily Mail

For twenty years Anna Bouverie, as a priest's wife has served God and the parish in a variety of ways.She has baked for the Brownies, delivered parish magazines, washed and ironed her husband's surplices and clothed herself and her children in jumble-sale items.

When her husband fails to gain promotion to archdeacon and retreats into isolated bitterness, and the bullying of her daughter at the local comprehensive reaches an intolerable level, Anna rebels.She takes a job in the local supermarket where she earns her own money, her sense of her self-worth, the shocked disapproval of the parish and the icy fury of her husband.

She also attracts the passionate interest of three very different men, each of whom is to play a significant part in the blossoming of her life…

‘I would have killed anyone who wrested this novel from my hands…it’s compulsive reading’ Daily Mail

'The portrayal of the petty frustrations of clerical life is spot on… elegantly written'Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Joanna Trollope is the author of eagerly awaited and sparklingly readable novels often centred around the domestic nuaunces and dilemmas of life in present-day England. She has also written a number of historical novels and Britannia's Daughters, a study of women in the British Empire. Joanna Trollope was born in Gloucestershire and now lives in London. She was appointed OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
I was a bit disappointed by this book. I have read several of Joanna Trollope's novels and really enjoyed them (Marrying the Mistress, the Best of Friends, A Spanish Lover to name a few), but I felt let down by the Rector's Wife. What I like about Joanna Trollope especially is her attention to detail, her observation of human characteristics, the way people talk, interact with each other etc but in this book I didn't find so much of this. To be honest I found the descriptions of the church and people related with it tiresome, and I had difficulty remembering who the subsidiary characters were, which isn't usually a problem. Also the main characters seemed somehow colourless. Nevertheless, it was, like her other books, an easy read and it did improve towards the end.

The Rector's Wife - a surprising find
Not having read Joanna Trollope before, I borrowed The Rector's Wife from my mother and started reading it with some scepticism. A chapter in and I really was surprised how engaging this book is and not because, as I expected, it is full of self-pity and romance. Rather it deals with the complex and conflicting issues of religion, duty, love and passion with such sensitivity that I now understand how rewarding and yet stifling a life devoted to the church must be for thousands of women all over the world.

The book takes a sometimes uncomfortable look at the reality of living the life of a church wife - the expectations of a needy and judgemental parish, the frustration of putting your own needs and ambitions aside to make way for your husband's and what happens when you suddenly realise you've made a terrible mistake and you want your life back.

A really thoughtfully written book which I couldn't put down.

brilliant
i really enjoyed this book you never would have guessed this would end like it did. i found myself picking it up and putting it back down. Anna is a really loyal woman to her husband and children but she meets three men and that soon changes.

you won't be able to put this book down after this book read the men and the girls this book is just as good.