![The French Wife by [Diney Costeloe]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/519W15PkAZL.jpg)
Love, secrets and danger abound in the new historical novel
from bestselling author Diney Costeloe, set in 19th-century France.
As the St Clair
family prepare for the grand wedding of their daughter, Clarice, trouble is
brewing. An old friendship, a new love and a dangerous secret threaten to
destroy the life the St Clairs have built.
Their younger
daughter, Hélène, became friends with orphaned Annette during the terrible
events of the 1871 siege of Paris. Now they are reunited, with Annette working
below stairs for Hélène's parents. But she is hiding a dangerous secret, which
Hélène has promised to keep at all costs.
Meanwhile, Hélène has begun to fall in love with a
young nobleman from England, whose family has plans which do not include their
son choosing a French wife.
About the Author
Diney Costeloe is the author of twenty-three novels including The Throwaway Children, The Runaway Family, The Girl With No Name, The Sisters of St. Croix, The Lost Soldier, The Married Girls, Children of the Siege, and Her Missing Husband. She has also written short stories, articles and poems. Diney has three children and seven grandchildren. As you can see, when she isn't writing, Diney is busy with her family. She and her husband divide their time between Somerset and West Cork.
Author Links
Author's website (dineycosteloe.co.uk)
Facebook (@dineycosteloeauthor)
Twitter (@Dineycost)
Amazon (https://amzn.to/3daFqqO)
Bookbub (https://www.bookbub.com/authors/diney-costeloe)
Goodreads (https://bit.ly/GoodreadsDC)
My Thoughts
The French Wife by Diney Costeloe
has Madame Agathe Sauze and Annette relocating in 1876 to Belair, the St. Clair
country home. Annette finds herself
pregnant courtesy of a violent priest.
Agathe and Annette helped Helene St. Clair when she was eleven during
the Communard siege. Agathe got Rosalie
St. Clair to give them positions and respectability for Annette. Clarice St. Clair is marrying Lucas Barrineau
with an elaborate ceremony, reception and ball.
Lucas invited Rupert Chalfont, the youngest son of a titled gentleman,
who happens to need to leave England for a time. Rupert is immediately taken with Helene and
sets out to woo her along with her family.
When Rupert must return to England, he promises to return for Helene in
the spring. People and circumstances are
not in their favor.
The French Wife is a
dramatic historical novel. It is the sequel
to Children of the Siege, but it can be read on its own. I thought The French Wife was well-written and
it moved along at a gentle pace. The
characters are complex and suit the time period. The villains were well-crafted and easy for a
reader to dislike (they deserve it). Annette
and Agathe are working class women or servants.
Their clothing and behavior suited this era. The other characters like Helene were from a higher-class
bracket which was reflected in their language, clothing and attitude. The authors word imagery helps to bring the
story alive for readers. I did feel the
book was a little long and the pacing could have been livelier. I also
would have liked something unexpected to happen in the story instead of playing
out in an expected manner. I do want
readers to know that there is violence against women in the story that is
graphic and difficult to read. I could
tell the author did her research for this book.
I like a story that has people you will cheer for and villains you boo. I liked that some of the good characters from
Children of the Siege were in this story and were available at pivotal points. The French Wife is a dramatic saga with a Casanova charmer, sordid secrets, a
pathetic priest, a wooed woman, a kindhearted coachman, and a vile villain.
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| An 1876 Fashion Plate |
Excerpt
Paris 1876
There was a silence
about the house. The curtains were drawn across the windows and the old priest
lay in bed in his room attended by his housekeeper, Madame Agathe Sauze,
sitting at his bedside, keeping him company in his dying hours. Father Thomas,
the curate who also lived in the St Jacques Clergy House, had administered the
last rites earlier in the day and now it was simply a matter of time before the
old priest slipped away to meet his maker.
Agathe had been Father Lenoir’s
housekeeper for nearly thirty years, and over that time their mutual regard had
grown into a comfortable friendship. Well aware of her common sense and
respecting her judgement, the priest occasionally asked her opinion on parish matters.
Agathe always considered her answers carefully, and always spoke to him with
the formality due to his cloth. In public Father Lenoir her treated with the
same respect, but in private he had used her Christian name and there was a
genuine affection between them.
Now he was dying, and as she kept
watch at his bedside, she considered her life without him. Father Thomas had
been dismayed that Father Lenoir should confide parish affairs to his
housekeeper and had long ago decided that when he had his own parish, there
would be no such impropriety. Discussion of such business with a mere layperson
– and a woman into the bargain – would never happen when he was in charge. He
had been shocked that the old priest had allowed her to sit with him in his
last hours, but when he, Father Thomas, had tried to dismiss her from the
bedroom, the old man had opened his eyes and murmured, ‘Leave us alone! She can
stay. She’s my friend.’
His friend indeed! She was his
housekeeper, a paid employee! What right had she to be the one to see him into
eternity? Father Thomas, now clearly excluded, withdrew from the room, every
line of his body rigid with indignation.
Father Thomas will be an exacting
man to work for, Agathe thought as she sat at the bedside and listened to the old
man’s ragged breathing. Perhaps it was time to leave the Clergy House, but,
after so many years, where would she go? She had no home of her own, her only
family an estranged sister, and very few friends.
Maybe, she thought suddenly, the
bishop will send another priest to take over the church of St Jacques. After
all, Father Thomas is still young; perhaps he’ll be considered too
inexperienced to take on the responsibility of such a large parish.
The thought raised her spirits a
little. She closed her eyes for a moment or two, but jerked awake as there was
a slight movement in the bed. She realised that Father Lenoir’s eyes were open
again, gazing unseeing into the air. Then his face relaxed in a smile and the
rasp of his breath was silent.
Agathe leaned forward and gently
closed his eyes. She tried to pray for his departing soul, but somehow the
words would not come and she simply sat in the silence of the empty room.
Kris
The Avid Reader
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