Village Gossip

Tales from Turnham Malpas #7

by Rebecca Shaw

For the villagers of Turnham Malpas, the production of a play results in gossip, jealousy and scandal...For the locals of Turnham Malpas, the rural peace is disrupted when a famous actor comes to stay to recuperate from illness. Before long he is bored by village life and when he meets Caroline, the rector's wife, he is instantly attracted to her. He agrees to direct and star in a play with the villagers as his supporting cast and Caroline as his leading lady...Before long, the villagers' lives are turned upside down: a marriage is wrecked, a proud man humbled and two people are brought closer together as gossip, scandal and jealousy mount...

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, British Literature

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2000

About the author

Sunday Times bestselling author Rebecca Shaw is known for her heartwarming tales of country life.
Rebecca grew up in Yorkshire and attended a Quaker boarding school before becoming a teacher of deaf children.
She wrote 28 novels. Her biggest series of 19 books set in a fictional English village called TURNHAM MALPAS chart the lives and loves of the village inhabitants.
A further six novels tell the stories of the vets, veterinary nurses and animals at a veterinary practice in the fictional English market town of BARLEYBRIDGE.
She also wrote three standalone novels.
Rebecca lived with her husband in a beautiful Dorset village where she found plenty of inspiration for her contemporary stories about rural life. Rebecca sadly passed away in 2015, but her stories continue to be enjoyed by readers across the globe.
Rebecca has been translated and sold in Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Norway. She is also published in the US.

Reviews

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marriages are under attack in the village of Turnham Malpas in this rather steamy (in Turnham Malpas terms) book in the series. The arrival of famous actor Hugo Maude turns all the women to putty, but he seems to be more interested in one female in particular, and this female is married. The actions of this pair could lead to dramatic consequences - especially as their situation seems to be echoed in the play that the newly formed Turnham Malpas AmDram Society are putting on.

Things are also bumpy (literally) for Vera and Don, and as a result of a petty fight over who has been chosen to be "wardrobe mistress" for the play "Dark Rapture", Vera's life undergoes a drastic change. A cluster of villagers have Jeremy running scared, and gossips are about embellishing innocent tales until they are unrecognisable.

On finishing this book, I'm left wondering if things in Turnham Malpas will ever be the same again.......

[Kim]

I'm getting a little tired of these (mostly) unpleasant people. Caroline is an idiot.

[Curlyhair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my fav in the series and I don’t think it’s because I’ve not read one of this series for a while. Most of the story centred around the vicar and his wife and a visiting actor and to be blunt, I got really bored with their story, which I thought out of character for some. Hope later books are better than this.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am rating this purely on my feeling about how real the plot feels. I just don’t think that the Caroline that I have come to know over the previous 6 books would behave in this way, even having recently recovered from a life-threatening cancer.
I was pretty disappointed at how the plot focused on her, but I liked how the plot was the catalyst for so many characters developing.
I guess you can’t win them all and I will just go on to the next instalment .

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"For the locals in the village of Turnham Malpas the rural peace is shattered when a visitor comes to stay. Hugo, an old friend of Jimbo and Harriet's at the local store, is a famous actor and has come to the village to recuperate from a serious illness. but Hugo is soon bored with the day-to-day pattern of country life and when he meets Caroline, the rector's wife, he is instantly attracted to her. Soon he has agreed to direct and star in a play with the villagers as his supporting cast and Caroline as his leading lady.

"Before long the villagers' lives are tuned upside down: a marriage is wrecked, a proud man humbled and two people are brought closer together as gossip, scandal and jealousy mount."
~~back cover

Oh dear. Our Caroline is falling for that rapscallion Hugo, and he's most definitely leading her as astray as she will go. Is this the end of that formerly happy, text book marriage? The reader is privy to every step Caroline takes towards leaving Peter and the children; Sylvia tears a strip off of Caroline as she furiously quits her job as child minder and household helper and angrily marches next door, slamming the door behind her. The villagers do their best to help the situation by spreading gossip magnified by every person who repeats it.

I can only tell you the end is very satisfying, even if there are still some very major loose ends.

[Marina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read it as I'm at my mother's cocooning with her and needed a break from screeens - this, amongst other Rebecca Shaw books, is on her bookshelves. Not sure why I feel compelled to read through the various bookds from this Malpas series... I don't like the characters, the tone is quite judgemental, the depiction of working class and middle class characters is very 1930s... The whole idea in this, the infatuation of the Rector's wife with a visiting actor who produces a stupendous play in the village, she having of course the starring role, is just silly, particularly the ending.
When I read the first of the Malpas books on the shelf, I had to keep checking if I had misread the timeframe, so overarchingly 1930s prim and proper is the language, as is the stereotyping of the various characters. I decided to read the other two on the shelf, including this, the more recent one Mam has, just in case I was mistaken in my assessment.... I wasn't.
No doubt this series has its followers, who adore the cosy village ideology depicted, and I can see that appeal. But I don't think I'll be following it up...

[Fahim Shahriar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Village Gossip? More like Cuckold gossip. But hey, letting your wife be kissed in your living room while staying up in the attic is considered “ideal love of husband” here. Wonder how the same audience would have felt if the roles were reversed heh.
I hope I could give a minus star to this but alas.

[H F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been attacked for possible profanity, incitement, ism’s of all sorts and other offences, with no back up explanations or evidence, I am a little reticent of giving an opinion but will let my star rating shoulder the blame.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from the Turnnham Malpas series. Get so captivated in the characters lives that you cant wait to read what happens next. Can not wait to. Read another one.

[Sherry Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a huge disappointment for me. Still love the series but sad.

[Madge · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Feeling peevish over Caroline again.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love a cute little village story. Doc Martin vibes

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyed this book .The message is the grass is no greener.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh of the Turnham Malpas series and, of course, I enjoyed it as much as the others. Lovely gentle books on village life.

Back Cover Blurb:
For the locals in the village of Turnham Malpas the rural peace is shattered when a visitor comes to stay. Hugo, an old friend of Jimbo and Harriet's at the local store, is a famous actor and has come to the village to recuperate from a serious illness.
But Hugo is soon bored with the day-to-day pattern of country life and when he meets Caroline, the rector's wife, he is instantly attracted to her. Soon he has agreed to direct and star in a play with the villagers as his supporting cast - and Caroline as his leading lady. And it seems that the attraction between her and Hugo goes well beyond the scenes on stage.
Before long the villagers' lives are turned upside down: a marriage is wrecked, a proud man humbled and two people are brought closer together as gossip, scandal and jealousy mount....

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite Rebecca Shaw novel mainly because the vicar and his wife are my least liked characters in the village. They are prissy and she is self righteous but my main bugbear is that their relationship is so so syrupy, sickly sweet and so unbelievable.Rebecca's depiction of the working class caharacters seem somehow much more true than say those of Peter and Caroline, Jimbo and his mother. However, an easy and mostly enjoyable read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books. This one was no different, what a great story and new characters, marriages are in jeopardy with two of my favourite characters and it was hard to read and allow the female to fall for him... Also another few characters are prosecuted for theft, read when you get the chance these are gret little novels.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

c1999. So, all I had to work with was ' Highly recommended escapism for townies." this from Manchester Evening News. There I was thinking along the lines of Miss Read, James Herriot......this is not like it at all. It is about the breakdown of a marriage...involving the Vicar...so, so not for me. Unable to recommend.

[Charmaine Puzey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really great story. Super crappy ending.

[Nancy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good. Have enjoyed this series.

[Donna Boultwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Turnham Malpas story. Quite a scandal brewing too! Very enjoyable.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relaxing read.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given this book by a relative who has quite a few in the series and wanted to know whether I liked them and wanted to read them. Unfortunately because this novel was mid-series I felt like I was missing quite a lot of context so found it hard to get my footing.

My husband asked me at one point whether I was enjoying it and I pulled a:



face. He asked what sort of book it was and I genuinely didn't know. It wasn't what I would call chick-lit, which just made it fiction. Nondescript, vanilla fiction.

I didn't really like the main couple, who felt quite sickly sweet and twee and yet not at all rectory at all. It was like they'd been written into roles that they didn't fit. Like casting Sylvester Stallone in a gentle romantic movie.

I could see where the story was heading but it just didn't hold my interest enough to make it there.

[Sarah "Kat"]

Almost finished the first book (3 in 1) but lost interest.