The Shopkeeper's Wife
A Novel
-
-
4.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1886 Philadelphia, Hanna Willer begins employment as a maid-of-all-work for Isabelle Martin, the pregnant wife of a prosperous shopkeeper. Hanna, fresh from her rural home, is a quietly observant and practical young woman. Isabelle is lonely and restless, dangerously disconted with her life and obsessed with her reckless pursuit of happiness. Yet despite their differences, the two forge an unconventional friendship.
But when Mr. Martin dies under suspicious circumstances, and the evidence points to Isabelle, Hanna finds herself thrust into the midst of a murder trial that becomes a touchstone for the shifting values of modern society. As she wrestles with her role, she confronts the attitudes that city life has bred in her--attitudes about what is possible between men and women; what is fair and not fair in the lives of her immigrant friends; and what one person can do in the face of large, powerful forces like the press, public opinion, and accepted wisdom.
From the rippling effects of the advent of electricity to labor strikes to the very beginnings of the women's movement, Noelle Sickels delivers an enthralling glimpse of the birthing of modern America and the lives that are forever changed in its wake.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Based loosely on the real case of Adelaide Bartlett, who was tried for murder in London in 1886, Sickels's second historical (after Walking West) succeeds with a blend of period detail and psychological acuity. Narrator Hanna Willer comes to work as a domestic for Isabelle Martin, the pregnant wife of a prosperous shopkeeper in 1886 Philadelphia. Isabelle's marriage to Edwin is not a happy one. The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Frenchman, she was pledged to a man she finds physically distasteful (with Edwin's black teeth and halitosis, who could blame her?), while he received a generous settlement from her father. Isabelle is restless, dissatisfied and dreams of romantic love. After the death of her baby, she becomes interested in the Reverend Dale, an affection that Edwin encourages in order to gain her tolerance for his own infidelity. But when Edwin dies of a mysterious illness, the autopsy leads to Isabelle's arrest. Sickels builds her plot slowly and layers her characters' relationships with subtlety. If there is a weakness in the book, it is the enigma of Isabelle herself, whose character remains impenetrable even to Hannah's thoughtful, insightful gaze.
