Dinah Jefferies Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Dinah Jeffries discusses The Tea Planter's Wife, and how her personal experiences - growing up in Malaysia, living in many parts of the world - inspired and effected her writing.

In your own words, can you introduce readers to the premise of The Tea Planter's Wife?
The novel is set on a tea plantation beside a misty lake in 1920s Ceylon. It's almost the end of the colonial era, and all the certainties of British life are changing. Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper is the new bride of the plantation owner, Laurence, a wealthy and charming widower. But her idyllic dreams of marriage are shaken by echoes from the past—an old trunk of musty dresses, a hidden grave-stone in the grounds, and locked doors. Her new husband seems haunted by the past. When Gwen goes into labor, with Laurence away from the house, she is presented with a terrible choice—one she feels she must make without her husband's knowledge. Can she keep such a powerful secret? If not, can Laurence possibly forgive what she has done? As all the secrets unfold, her marriage to Laurence is threatened, as is the old colonial lifestyle. Ultimately, The Tea Planter's Wife is about what we feel we have to conceal from the people we love, and what happens when we do.

Can you tell us about your early childhood years in Malaysia, and how those memories have affected your writing? How did you handle the transition to life in ...