A Village in Jeopardy

Tales from Turnham Malpas #16

by Rebecca Shaw, Katarzyna Klein (Designer)

Rivalries flare and scandal abounds in bestselling author Rebecca Shaw's sparkling tale of love, loyalty and village life. The villagers of Turnham Malpas are in for a shock. With Sir Ralph now dead, his fortune and title go to newcomer, Johnny Templeton. Johnny could not be more different from his well-loved predecessor, and he soon finds himself in conflict with the long-standing members of Turnham Malpas. Meanwhile, there are two other villagers in crises, but theirs is a much more private issue. Marcus and Alice March have longed for a child for years. But when Alice finally becomes pregnant, there are those in the village who question the child's paternity. After all, Alice has grown very close to Johnny... As gossip begins to circulate, Alice must make the most difficult of decisions - whether to follow her heart or her morals.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2012

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

[Sarah Hopkins]

Oh my gosh I loved this series! One must love reading about the lives of English Villagers to enjoy these books, but they are a fun romp within a village full of interesting characters. Some of the plot lines were an odd choice, but of course these are fictional people, and the author had to invent quirky turns in the plot to keep things interesting. There are a lot of books in this series (17 or 18 I think), so it gave me a really good run of night reading pleasure. Take them for what they were intended - an extended tale of life in an English village, full of exaggerated characters, quirky plot lines, and just a bit of fun, light reading (if you call 17 books light) haha. I bought the whole series through Abebooks.com so it didnt cost me a lot to get all the books.

[Kate]

"The villagers of Turnham Malpas are in for a shock. With Sir Ralph now dead, his fortune and title go to newcomer Johnny Templeton. Johnny could not be more different from his predecessor, and he soon finds himself in conflict with the long standing members of the village.

"Meanwhile, there are two other villagers in crisis. Marcus and Alice March have longed for a child for years. But when Alice finally becomes pregnant, there are those in the village who question the child's paternity. After all, Alice has grown very close to Johnny . . . As gossip begins to circulate, Alice must make the most difficult of decisions -- whether to follow her morals or her heart."
~~back cover

It didn't happen quite that way. Marcus hasn't held a steady job for ten years, striving to be a writer. But nothing he's written has ever been published. And Marcus is a very self-centered man, and demands that their marriage revolves around him and his attempts to be a writer. Alice becomes more and more disenchanted with this situation . . . and then she meets Johnny. Try as she might, she's drawn more and more to Johnny, who's also fallen in love with her.

She leave Marcus, but doesn't go to Johnny, trying desperately to abide by her moral conviction that marriage is forever. Marcus gets a nibble on his latest attempt, and swans off to London to see the potential publisher. And hooks up with another woman. The plot continues to thicken, and eventually Alice gives in to Johnny's pleas>

Marcus indeed beco0mes a published author, and relocates to London. Alice is with Johnny, and lo and behold! she's definitely pregnant. And all's well that ends well.

[Kim]

I think I've finally cracked the code on this series. I thought I was reading a cozy series about a charming English village with lots of interesting personalities. I think I was wrong. I think that the author detests villages and villagers and wants us to feel the same. Practically everyone is either unpleasant, venal, unfaithful, prone to fits of temper, rude, unkind, or downright mad. Jimbo is fairly admirable (though with a hair-trigger temper) and I confess I haven't found a flaw yet in Harriet.

[Michelle Hartman]

Another hit out of the park for Shaw. I'm so involved at this point in the life of this village, that I actually get a little depressed at their downturns. One of the great talents of this author is showing the bad attributes of the characters as well as the good. There is a good reason Hallmark movies are laughed at, no one can be that candy sweet all the time. There is gossip, thoughtlessness, and more, but you still love them no matter what. Because you see yourself in them, on bad days as well as good.

[Kirsty Farmer]

The reason why I gave it 3 stars was because it took me a while to get into the story. I’m not sure that was partly my fault as I hadn’t read the previous books in the series, but the story took a while to get going. Once it it did, it turned into a nice little story about country life. I have now ordered the first books to see how that goes!

[Denita]

I enjoyed reading this next instament of the people who live in the village of Turnham Malpas. The plot is predicable but I still am entertained by each story. I look forward to reading the upcoming book.

[diane jefferd]

H

Enjoyed as easy read wasn't as much story as usual Nice to read on holiday if you don't want something to heavy

[christine spurrier]

I loved it a nice easy pleasant read was nice to read something where no one dies for a change can’t wait to read the rest of the books

[Sherry Powell]

Getting close to the end of this fabulous series, going to miss these people.

[Sarah Austin]

This book wins for the strangest writing style ever. I didn't realize this was book 16 otherwise I never would have picked it up. 2.5 stars.

[Sadie Lewis]

Another village story.

[Siân]

I really liked it but the ending was a bit naff. I was waiting for something exciting to happen and it just never did...

[Ellen Stafford]

I really enjoyed this book and all the characters.

[Armanda Moncton]

Boring. I did not care about any of the characters and there was not much plot. I couldn't even finish it.

[Jill]

its a bit slow to get into but I have enjoyed her books before - another nice and easy book to sit wrapped up in a blanket with a big pot of coffee - an easy read

[Carol]

An uncomplicated, simple read and just enough to encourage me to try more by this author.

[Lizzie]

Another great village tale about the residents of Turnham Malpas. Just love these books

[Cathy]

Enjoyable picture of village life. A good and easy read snuggled up by the fire!!