The Good Wife

By: Eleanor Porter

Narrated by: Katherine Press

'Eleanor Porter is a major new voice in historical fiction.' Tim Clayton

Where will her loyalty lead her?

Once accused of witchcraft Martha Spicer is now free from the shadow of the gallows and lives a safe and happy life with her husband, Jacob. But when Jacob heads north to accompany his master, he warns Martha to keep her healing gifts a secret, to keep herself safe, to be a good wife.

Martha loves Jacob but without him there to protect her, she soon comes under the suspicious eye of the wicked Steward Boult, who’s heard of her talent and forces her to attend to him. If she refuses, he promises to destroy the good life she has built for herself with Jacob.

Desperate and alone, Martha faces a terrible decision: stay and be beholden to Boult or journey north to find Jacob who is reported to have been killed.. The road ahead is filled with danger, but also the promise of a brighter future. And where her gifts once threatened to be her downfall, might they now be the very thing that sets Martha free...?

The brilliant follow-up to Eleanor Porter's first novel of love, betrayal, superstition and fear in Elizabethan England. A story of female courage, ingenuity and determination, this is perfect for fans of Tracy Chevalier.

©2021 Eleanor Porter (P)2021 Boldwood Books Ltd

Not what I was expecting

I really enjoyed The Wheelwright’s Daughter so I was looking forward to this sequel. However I was so disappointed in the ending not being what I wanted to happen. Knowing the time period and the nature of humans, it was the only way it could have ended. Martha endured so much only to find it was all in vain.
The story seemed to drag on after she set off on her journey. I stayed with it as I wanted to know if she found Jacob. This was a sad tragic tale.
I had to speed up the narration as I would not have been able to last with the speed of the narrator.