The Spice Merchant’s Wife by Charlotte Betts

Narrated by Penelope Freeman

I bought this audiobook on impulse a while back. I’d heard of the author, but hadn’t read any of her books, and I knew of the narrator, having seen her name attached to several titles at Audible – but other than that, didn’t have much to go on apart from the synopsis. And that’s fairly unusual for me, as I’m someone who usually looks at the narrator’s name first and the storyline and author second and third.

Fortunately, this turned out to be one of those times when my purchase proved to have been a good idea, because I listened to The Spice Merchant’s Wife in two or three sittings over one weekend; I didn’t want to stop listening to go to sleep even though I kept dozing off at 2 am on the Sunday morning!

It’s September 1666, and Kate Finche is both eager and apprehensive at the prospect of being reunited with her husband Robert, who has been away from home for six months of their seven-month-old marriage. He has been trading overseas and has now returned with a large and soon to be profitable cargo, all of it unloaded into the company warehouses near the docks. Kate has been living with her in-laws while Robert has been away, and now her husband is back, looks forward to finding a home of their own and starting a family.

Kate’s hopes – and much more – are dashed when fire sweeps through London, destroying lives, homes and businesses. The Finche’s warehouse and family home are burned down, and they are destitute, Mr Finche senior taken to debtor’s prison, and the young couple forced to live in a dingy room on the meagre income Robert is able to earn as a clerk.

Kate’s marriage to Robert Finche was not a love match; but he’s young, good-looking and had good prospects, which is probably more than many young women could have hoped for at that time. In addition, Kate was desperate to get away from the ill-treatment meted out to her by the malicious elderly aunt who had taken her in upon the death of her parents. The already uncertain foundation to their marriage weakens further in their straightened circumstances. Robert shows Kate very little affection or understanding, and refuses to give her the child she longs for (which I can understand, given the circumstances). Things begin to look up for them when he gets a job with one of the men who has been given many of the contracts for re-building the city, the unpleasant and ruthless Mr Hackett.

With the story of Kate’s life with Robert running in the foreground, in the background we are introduced to the well-to-do and elegant Gabriel Harte, the blind owner of The House of Perfume. Kate meets him early on in the story when she saves him from a serious accident and then later he introduces her to his wife, Jane, and his young son, Toby. Kate and Jane become fast friends, and it’s to her and Gabriel that Kate eventually expresses her reservations about the shoddy nature of Hackett’s work. There has already been death and injury as the result of collapse in some of the new houses that have been built – and when Robert is found drowned, Kate is convinced she knows who is responsible for his death.

Now a widow, and once again penniless, Kate is taken in by the Hartes and given a post as Toby’s nursemaid. The lad quickly develops a fondness for Kate, and his mother, whose health is deteriorating, seems determined to foster their friendship. The trouble is that Kate finds herself increasingly drawn to the handsome and enigmatic Gabriel, even though she knows nothing can come of it.

While there most definitely IS a romance at the heart of The Spice Merchant’s Wife, I’d say the book is more a piece of romantic historical fiction. The romance is fairly low key for the first half of the book, which is principally concerned with telling the story of the trials and tribulations of Kate’s life as a young wife and a young woman in Restoration London. The author’s descriptions of the fire and its aftermath are very evocative, and I was thoroughly caught up in the events of Kate’s day-to-day life, her increasing determination to expose Hackett’s wrong-doing and the development of her growing friendship with and attachment to the Hartes.

If you enjoy historical fiction with a strong sense of time and place, and books that take time over their setup and that pay a lot of attention to detail, then The Spice Merchant’s Wife could well be one for you.

My one complaint is that perhaps Kate has far more than her fair share of misery heaped upon her before she finally gets her HEA – destitute, widowed, almost raped, almost murdered, destitute again… and much more, and I felt that the final tragedy she experienced was one too many. But she’s an engaging character, and her relationship with Gabriel, although it moves at a leisurely pace, is well developed and imbued with a latent sensuality.

Penelope Freeman is an experienced narrator with many titles to her name at Audible, but I’ve never listened to her before. She has a mellow, fairly deep voice which lends itself well to performing the male characters in the story. She gives Gabriel slightly gravelly, husky tones which are both attractive and authoritative, and while Robert is performed in a similar register, there is never any question as to which of the two is speaking in the few scenes in which they appear together. Every character in the story is clearly differentiated, from Aunt Mercy’s nasal whine to Jane’s higher-pitched, delicate tones; and Hackett’s slimy growl to the rounded, portly timbre Ms Freeman uses for Kate’s father-in-law.

The narrative is well-paced for the most part, although if I have a criticism, it’s that this narrator seems to favour quite long pauses in dialogue or between sentences. Much of the time, such pauses are very effective, but at others, I wondered if the battery on my mp3 player needed recharging!

Overall though, The Spice Merchant’s Wife is a compelling story wrapped up in a very engaging performance and is an audiobook I found very difficult to put down. This is one impulse buy I certainly don’t regret!

Editor’s Note: Due to publishing rights restrictions, this audiobook is not available to US Audible customers. Click here for the UK Audible version, and click here for the Australian Audible version.

Caz

Narration: B+

Book Content: B+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in (but at the tame end)

Violence: Minimal

Genre: Romantic Historical Fiction

Publisher: Hachette Audio