Gulliver's Wife

I was given an advanced copy of this book to provide and honest review.

This is the first book written by Lauren Chater that I have read, and I went into this not knowing what to expect. I was quite delighted with this gorgeous story and very much in love with the beautiful cover.

It is 1702 in London, Gulliver’s Wife, Mary, is a midwife and a herbalist struggling to make ends meet but doing what she can to provide for her children, Bess and Johnny. With her husband Lemuel lost at sea and presumed dead, she is happy and content living as widow. He was always more trouble than he was worth when at home.

However, her few years of peace and independence is short lived as one night he suddenly turns up at their little home, possibly drunk and quite out of his mind rambling nonsense and crazy stories. Hoping the ramblings are just the result of a fever, Mary is hoping that given enough time it will pass.

Alas, Mary’s troubles are far from over. Lemuel’s ramblings have intensified, and gossip is spreading around their little town like wildfire. It doesn’t help that Lemuel’s new friend, a fellow sailor, is badly influencing Lemuel. His friend is less than desirable, feeding Lemuel’s delusions and supplying him with his “medicine”. Mary hopes for his presence to disappear along with her husband’s.

But Mary’s woes do not end there with young girls been viciously attacked in their neighbourhood, Mary frets about the safety of her dear Bess, who is a strong willed and stubborn young lady believing her mother is trying to stifle her freedom and keep her young forever.

And now Mary’s profession, the midwife’s profession, is under attack from the male surgeons once again. Trying to push the midwives out and introduce their new “forceps” with the intention of making the role of midwives almost null and void. They are trying to make the midwife profession purely under the control of male surgeons who apparently know what is best for the female body during a birth.

As Mary struggles to deal with this threat to her livelihood, she is also struggling to deal with the threat her husband Lemuel represents to her reputation and independence. Can she keep her reputation from being shattered and her independence torn away from her, everything she was worked so hard and sacrificed for? How is it fair that a man can bring down a woman’s hard work, to look after those that need it and then have to suffer from a man at the same time. She hopes she can find a way to retain her profession and independence and have her Bess trust her and stay safe.

This was an enjoyable story that I felt really highlighted the struggles many women living in London in the 1700s faced. Trying to find their place and survive in a world where men dictated all the rules, leaving women with very little freedom and rights.

Life would have been such a struggle for man y women in Mary’s position with husbands off to work, expected to stay behind keep house and find a way to provide for their children in such a way that wouldn’t bring shame and gossip to the family. All the while having to struggle with gossip of their fellow neighbours and towns folk.

I really felt for Mary and the many women like her, all experiencing their own struggles just trying to make their way through this world. It makes you sit back and appreciate what we have today with our rights and freedoms, how lucky we truly are.

I hope things improve for Mary and there is much happiness for her and her children in their futures.

Gulliver’s Wife is an intriguing story superbly written in meticulous detail, it was wonderful to read. I also loved the beautiful book cover, it’s exquisite.

The year is 1702 in Wapping, London, Mary Gulliver is a highly respected midwife and herbalist who hopes that her fourteen-year old daughter Bess will also become a midwife and follow in her footsteps. Mary has a strong sense of familial duty.

The midwives also testified against crimes accused of rape and sexual assault due to their extensive knowledge of female anatomy.

In a time of a male dominated world Mary struggles to make ends meet with her husband Lemuel lost at sea, presumed dead. However she enjoys her independence, as he often brought trouble at home. Had she married the wrong man?

Then suddenly three years later Gulliver returns home, obviously unwell with night terrors, blundering confusion and ranting strange stories.

An amazing story, and yes Mary’s husband is the Gulliver we remember from the story Gulliver’s Travels.

London in 1702 was not a good place for the poor and destitute, but Mary Gulliver’s life since her husband Lemuel had been lost at sea had slowly improved through her careful watch on her pennies. Mary was a highly respected midwife, taught by Anne Clifford who had known Mary’s mother and was a good friend of Mary’s. Mary hoped that her fourteen-year-old daughter Bess would follow in her footsteps. Bess missed her father badly; his fanciful tales and attention to her, so Bess found herself resentful of her mother, a fact that hurt Mary deeply. With eleven-year-old Johnny at boarding school, it was only Mary, Bess and their maid Alice at their residence, The Needle.

The shock Mary felt when Lemuel was suddenly returned to her was great – his ravings and illness immediately upset Mary’s life and she feared everything would soon be as it was. The violence both on the streets and in their homes had Mary fearful for Bess, who was going through a time of torment, not listening to her mother. And as Mary continued to assist with births, to help the women who were friends, she tried to find a way to get the truth regarding Lemuel’s ravings. Would her friend and husband’s cousin Richard be able to help? She only knew they were all in danger…

Gulliver’s Wife is an intriguing and fascinating story (with a spectacular cover) by Aussie author Lauren Chater which I thoroughly enjoyed. With inspiration from "Gulliver’s Travels" by Jonathan Swift, the author has woven a tale which is magical, wondrous and exquisite. The inner strength of Mary, who faced so much, was extraordinary – the women back in the 1700s barely had a voice; the men cruel for the most part. I loved The Lace Weaver, Ms Chater’s first book, and Gulliver’s Wife is no different. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Simon & Schuster AU and NetGalley for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Lauren Chater, author of The Lace Weaver (a personal favourite of mine), has returned with a new historical fiction release, Gulliver’s Wife. In a sort of fan-fiction type of mash up, Lauren has breathed life into a character that didn’t get much airtime in the original classic, Gulliver’s Travels: Mary Gulliver, wife of the main character, Lemuel Gulliver.

‘The decision to set my own novel between the first and second of Gulliver’s journeys was driven by the desire to condense the action and highlight the drama around his possible madness and the impact it might have on his wife’s life.’ – Author note.

Innovative and unique, this novel was gripping from the very first page. It’s very much a character driven narrative, there is certainly a lot happening within the story, but for me, it was the character responses to these events that took centre stage rather than the events themselves. Eighteenth century London was not a safe place, particularly for women and children. I feel this period of history is not as touched upon within fiction as often as the 17th and 19th centuries are. It was a grim time, crime and disease running rife, child labour laws still non-existent, women and children considered as the property of their husbands and fathers. Lauren Chater has done her research in the crafting of this novel and it shows within the meticulous details and the manner in which she’s recreated this entire world with such authenticity. More often than not this is a dark and confronting story, but that’s the way I like my historical fiction, and that’s also the way in which this novel sets itself so firmly within its chosen era.

Gulliver’s Wife is very much a story of female agency and it’s a magnificent ode to midwifery. Instead of trying to paraphrase, I’ll once again share Lauren’s own words:

‘Contrary to stereotypes (reinforced by male practitioners) that the London midwives were ‘ignorant, incompetent, and poor’, they commanded immense respect within their close-knit communities and their commitment to the role, which included apprenticeships, licensing and oath-taking, meant they were often viewed as experts in the ‘secret women’s business’ of childbirth. They also testified against criminals accused of rape and sexual assault and were considered ‘expert witnesses’ by the courts, since their work required extensive knowledge of female anatomy. Not everyone approved. In the early 1700s, a movement aimed at discrediting female midwives to promote the interests of male practitioners began to gain momentum, supported by surgeons who favoured the medicalisation of birth via forceps and ‘lying-in’ hospitals which eventually led to devastatingly high mortality rates in the latter half of the 18th century.’ – Author note.

Enter Mary Gulliver, who I adored from the outset. Like a shining beacon of hope, she tended to the women of her section in London, and sometimes further into other neighbourhoods, juggling home and work in a time when there was no respect to be had for doing so. She was far from perfect, and she definitely dropped a few balls from time to time, but she was real, so genuine and a character I became deeply invested in. I felt so much sympathy for her, being married to Lemuel, who really was an arrogant arse, among other things. Life was not easy for Mary, but she remained selfless and steadfast. Her relationship with her housemaid, Alice, was a particular drawcard for me and I enjoyed the sections where this was highlighted. As ever, the botany aspects caught my attention the most. It’s an interest I can’t seem to shake.

‘This garden is her private sanctuary, the symmetry and geometry of the plants and trees designed to foster a deep, contemplative sense of calm. The herbs and flowers in their beds are the descendants of the seeds her mother passed on to her. Perhaps it is almost pagan to indulge in such earthly pleasure but each plant in her garden has its pleasing purpose: medicinal, gourmand, ornamental. Nothing is wasted and everything has its place. Even the bees have their role to play, always pausing first at the hollyhocks before they move on to the woodruff, some elemental compulsion propelling them from flower to flower. The ants consume the garden’s dead waste, chomping through old branches and litter, stripping leaves down to their skeletal core while in the cool darkness beneath the topsoil, the earthworms dance.’

Now, this story is not just about Mary. It’s also about Bess, her fourteen-year-old daughter. I really struggled with Bess, right alongside Mary, but I have a suspicion that may have been the intended response. Spoiled, naive, selfish, and most irritating of all, the misplaced hero worship she displayed towards her father. She constantly put herself at risk, caused Alice and her mother no end of distress and worry. As much as I found her intolerable, I am filled with admiration for Lauren’s authentic rendering of a headstrong teenager within such a setting. It was also a risk, to create a character such as Bess, one who just didn’t know when to stop pushing her luck, for not every reader would develop empathy over impatience for the girl – I certainly didn’t. And yet, I still loved this novel. Bess was indeed fortunate, more than she was capable of realising, to have a mother such as Mary. Her future could have been vastly different – a whole lot worse off. And as insufferable as Bess was, her presence within the story and all of the trials and petty nonsense that she brought to the table just further displays Lauren Chater’s skill as a writer. In less competent hands, a contrary character like Bess may have given me cause to abandon a novel – I have too much lived experience of teenage dramatics and egotism to want to escape into it by choice through literature!

‘This is the beating heart of London – of life, really. Men like her father are the lynchpin on which the world turns. Without them, everything will grind to a shuddering halt. They are like the Titans Pa told her about, like Cronus or Hyperion or mighty Oceanus, gods of sea and of land. Mam and her friends consider their midwife’s work indispensable but Bess knows it is men like Pa who ensure London’s children have a future. Men keep them all afloat.’

~~~

‘Her mother was just a worrier who liked to flaunt her authority whenever he was away. Bess had enjoyed watching Mam grow flustered as Pa ordered her about. She loved to watch her pa scoop handfuls of coins and traders’ tokens out of the teapot in the parlour while Mam was at work. The china teapot had belonged to Mam’s mother, Bess’s grandmother. It was one of the only things Mam owned which had belonged to her and Mam kept it filled with farthings and pennies for emergencies only. Not that the notion ever stopped her father. Munching on a pilfered shortcake, Bess had watched with glee as her father breathed new life into their stale existences and upended her mother’s carefully ordered world.’

Gulliver’s Wife is a literary achievement, a smorgasbord of delight for fans of historical fiction. I know we’re in for a bit of a wait, but if this is the standard we can expect from Lauren Chater, I honestly can’t wait until her next release.

‘Love takes strange forms. Sometimes it is a pebble, hard and unyielding, at other times a willow birch, bending to accommodate the headlong rush of water in a stream.’



Thanks is extended to Simon & Schuster for providing me with a copy via NetGalley of Gulliver’s Wife for review.

I'm late to submit this review as I wasn't able to download it via Netgalley. I recently read the paperback, so I'm happy to share my thoughts!

This book was amazing. I don't usually read historical fiction, but this one drew me in with its interesting premise.

The characters were well developed, and the book was written extremely well overall.

I definitely recommend this one.