The Vicar's Wife by Katharine Swartz

The Vicar's Wife by Katharine Swartz

from Goodreads.com
Jane Hatton and her British husband Andrew relocate from New York City to a small village on the Cumbrian coast. Jane has been city-based and career-driven but when her fourteen year old daughter Natalie falls in with the wrong crowd at school in Manhattan, she and Andrew decide to try country living. However Jane has trouble getting used to the silence and solitude of a remote village. Natalie hates her new school, and eleven-year-old Ben struggles academically. Only seven-year-old Merrie enjoys country life. Has Jane made a horrible mistake? The Hattons have bought the old vicarage in the village. When Jane finds a scrap of shopping list, she grows curious about Alice, the vicar’s wife who lived there years before. As we follow the twin narratives of Jane, in the present, and Alice in the 1930s we discover that both are on a journey to discover their true selves, and to address their deepest fears.


My Take:  This is the second book that I  have recently read that dealt with a present day woman delving into learning about another woman in another time period that lived in the same house that she did.  Both books made the stories work and I enjoyed the stories of the two women.  In this book Jane Hatton moves from bustling New York City to a small village in England that is way quieter and the family has a hard time adjusting except for the husband and the youngest child.    Jane finds a scrap of paper and becomes intrigued by the woman who wrote it and Jane starts asking questions about Alice and learning about her and she realizes that she has more in common than she thought.  I really enjoyed the double story line and liked getting to know both of these characters.  

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion from Kregel.