The Shopkeeper's Wife
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.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.