The Peacock's Feather

Ann of Norfolk Saga #2

by Sarah Woodhouse

This novel is set in 18th century Norfolk and is a sequel to "A Season of Mists". The author has also written "Daughter of the Sea" and "The Indian Widow".

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1989

About the author

Sarah Woodhouse was born on 1950 in Birmingham, England, UK. She grew up in Cambridgeshire and attended St Mary's convent school before studying for a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval English at Reading University.

Sarah is the author of numerous short stories, many of which were published in 19 magazine in the 1970s, and 9 romance novels from 1984 to 2000. In 1989, her novel The Peacock's Feather won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 to 3.5 stars. I struggled a bit with this book, but ended up giving three and a half stars because of the quality writing, the settings, and the interesting, believable characters. But, to my disappointment, this book is not a romance (which is what I was expecting). It's a little hard to pigeonhole it, actually. I suppose it could be called historical fiction, but to me definitely not historical romance. Weird that it won a Romantic Novel of the Year award when it was published (1989). Times have changed and I doubt many these days would label it a romance.

I read and liked the previous book, A Season of Mists, and there is a bit of overlap with some of the characters from that book, especially the doctor, who plays a strong role in this one. But there is also a whole new set of characters, especially Jary Savage and Lizzie Rayner. But as the plot developed and the story proceeded, it was far from clear who was going to end up with whom. I didn't like this. I enjoy romances where early on it's pretty clear who is going to end up together, and I like seeing the development of the relationship. In this one, I kept on reading, lots of things happened, and nobody got together till in a kind of half-hearted way near the very end of the book. The End. Hmmm. Not what I was expecting.

Parts of the book were interesting and even quite moving, but other parts dragged for me, and had too much detail. There were some disappointments. Henriette's death was shocking and came completely out of the blue. It was handled sensitively by the author, but was gruelling to read. I felt cross about Ann (a character from the previous book) and the late revelation that she was not going to marry William after all. Why? I found it hard to know why the author put that in, and it kind of belatedly spoiled the ending of A Season of Mists for me. But there was no real indication that the doctor was now going to get together with Ann. It was just left up in the air. Frustrating for this reader. The trial took too long and had an overabundance of detail, but then readers were still kind of left wondering why they acquitted Jary after all. I felt it needed a bit more substance there. And it was fine for Jary and Lizzie to get together, but I would have liked to see more hints earlier on that they actually liked each other.

So, a few things that frustrated me. At the same time, I have a lot of respect for the author's ability to draw characters that feel like real people. Her depictions of the place and time setting were also quite masterful. However, this book felt like it dragged, and I'm not sure whether I'll bother trying to track down any more of her books just now. (They're out of print anyway).

CW: Death of a baby

[Nancy Noble · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the side of the road - and thought it looked intriguing enough to bring home. I was in the mood for a good old fashioned British country novel - and this was just my cup of tea. I loved the characters, with their wonderful sense of humor, the writing, and the setting. I do have to admit that I skimmed much of it, and lost track of the many of the secondary characters, but I loved Jary and Lizzie and the Doctor and Mrs. Jewkes.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 2 of the 3-part Ann of Norfolk (England) Saga, but you needn’t read the other books to enjoy it. The story is self-contained and won the Romantic Novel of the Year award in 1989, when it was published. There’s actually very little about Ann or Norfolk in this book. The action takes place in Suffolk, right around 1800. As in the first book, a major theme is what happens when an outsider buys an old estate in need of repair in a small town where many longtime residents distrust strangers and changes in status quo. It’s about how one person can make all sorts of changes through persistence and right action, and about how eccentric individuals can be accepted in a small town—but only if society considers them part of that town.

The small town characters are enjoyable and well developed. As the book begins, my favorite character from book 1 (A Season of Mists), the eccentric Doctor, has a chance encounter with Jary, the protagonist, in a public carriage. The mettle and honor of these two characters is revealed when a fellow passenger, a single pregnant lady shunned by her family, goes into labor. However, when they arrive at the small town where Jary has purchased an old estate, not everyone welcomes them. Jary’s brown skin and Jamaican background and the Doctor’s disregard for social formalities arouse prejudice as well as interest.

Add to the character mix two not-so-eligible ladies next door: a rich, canny widow with a penchant for helping the poor, and a talented but socially inept portrait artist who grew up on the estate next door until her father lost it in disgrace. And there’s more: Jary’s estranged misanthropic aunt and her avaricious nephew, an adult man who feels obligated to his cranky and socially unacceptable father, a parson with a few distinctly non-Christian sentiments, and an array of farm and household workers. The characters interplay and change throughout the book. This is a romance, yes? So who, if anyone, will get together in the end? Not very predictable, especially given the life and death circumstances in the final chapters.

I don’t read much fiction, but recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well-thought-out characterizations.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

It turns out this was a romance novel. And not a very good one either. There were a lot of subplots and some convoluted story lines and one of them doesn't even get resolved at the end!