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Title: To Love and to Cherish (Wyckerley Novels)
ISBN: 0451207815
Author:
Patricia Gaffney
Publicate Date: 2003-02-04
Publish: 2003-02-04
List Price: $13.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $6.97
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.73
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1: a sweet pastoral romance
"To Love and Cherish" is a lovely book - in the author's note, Gaffney says that she was using Thomas Hardy as a model and trying to capture a moment of rural prosperity and peace before the great upheavals of the industrial revolution. Both of these things really come through; the countryside, the changing of the seasons, the beauty of nature is so present, so lovingly described in the book that it's like a third major character, with Christy and Anne.
And it's a very sweet book, too. It would have to be - the hero, Christy, is a humble, intelligent, thoughtful, moral vicar. He's so lacking in guile and cynicism that he's almost simple, so honest and generous that he can be gullible.
Anne is, essentially - not as worldly as she thinks she is. She's lived an itinerant life, half-abandoned by an artist father who paid no attention to her and totally abandoned by a husband who really paid no attention to her. She's made do for herself and her bohemian upbringing has at least on the surface left her with a permissive, athiestic code of morals.
Much of the book takes place through Anne's diary entries (it switches between the diary and a straight omniscient narrative) and these are really beautiful - both Christy and Anne are amateur artists and so Anne's diary is vivid and colorful, with lovely allusions; it also sets a tone of keen self-reflection - she is brutally honest with herself, a little wry as well.
The novel is very character driven and the romance between Christy and Anne proceeds very slowly. Because Anne is married for much of the book, what you really read is the birth of a friendship; both of them finding, where they least expect it, a valuable and necessary companion. This slow, guarded approach, mixed with the lush and almost haunting description of the beauties of the countryside, gives the book a sort of dreamy and very idyllic feeling. It's like a song about a shephard and a shephardess, singing in the fields to one another - that kind of glittering pastoral innocence.
I'm not giving this book five stars for several reasons. I didn't really like Anne's conversion; it bothered me that while Christy is steady as a rock, the foundations of Anne's character shift a great deal over the course of the novel (the more superficial aspects of her personality remain intact). Second, I can believe that Anne will be happy in a little village, that she grew deeply invested in the people and activities that mark village life - but I was put off by the rejection of travel that comes at the end of the book. It sets up an either/or dichotomy that I found really disappointing. Finally, the last section of the book - which, unlike the rest, is full of typical-for-a-romance adventure and adrenaline - felt like a betrayal of the book that Gaffney had started out writing.
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2: Refreshing, beautifully written story
This book was a delight to read because of Patricia Gaffney's beautiful prose and the unusual story line. The hero in this story, Christy, is a not a typical historical romance rakehell but, in fact, a vicar in a small town. The heroine, Anne (Lady D'Aubrey) is Christy's childhood best friend's unhappy, cynical wife. The characters are amazingly well drawn and sympathetic even in their faults. The friendship that develops between Anne and Christy and their eventual mutual (and, of course, forbidden!) attraction is very believable. I *loved* the character of Christy, a truly honorable and good man, full of good humor and optimism. What a refreshing change from the the usual angst-ridden libertine nobleman hero of most historical romances (actually the sequel to this book, "To Have and To Hold", features such a hero and is also an excellent, but much darker, book)!
Bravo to Patricia Gaffney! This book is a real treasure and the memorable characters will stay with you long after those from other books have faded into oblivion.
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3: Sweet Love Story
This book is delightful, beguiling and well written.
The romance is between a vicar and his childhood friend's wife (not as sordid as it sounds)! It is a gentle, sweet story that stays with you long after you read it. The author draws you into the story with believable and well written main and secondary characters centered on the little village. It is a refreshing story, no game playing between hero and heroine, and no torrid characters that hate each other at first. Just a mesmerizing story and wonderful read. This book is one in a trilogy of the village of Wyckerly. The next book To Have and Hold is much darker and different than this one but also worth the read.
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4: One of her best
This is the first book I read authored by Patricia Gaffney. A few years back, a sales woman at a used book store recommended this and the other two books in the Wyckerley triology. She is now one of my favorite authors. Although I like her most recent contemporary books, her older books, including this which are set in the past are her best in my opinion. They are better because in spite of the historical setting, the characters in her older books have current sensibilities and face timeless problems. Also, because they are set in a previous era, her older books don't have the pop culture references that make any contempory romance not just her books seem dated as soon as they are published. To Love and Cherish is about Christy and Anne. This book is a world apart from other books of this genre. Ms. Gaffney authors with such a light touch and uses a gentle sense of humour that time is suspended while you are reading her books. How Christy reconciles his vocation with his love for Anne, a childhood friend's wife makes for a great plot--hard to put down. The suspense of "will they or won't they" holds up until the last page. You don't want to leave Wyckerly when this book is over and surprise! you don't have to! She has two other books set in this English town. Some of the characters you've met and some are new. So you can enjoy your stay in Wyckerly for a good long time.
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