Nom de Plume

One of my Edward R. Hamilton finds, The Shopkeeper’s Wife was a strange and spare novel that is very loosely based on an actual murder and its subsequent trial.

Isabelle Martin is the wife of a prosperous late-nineteenth century shopkeeper in Philadelphia. Trapped in a loveless marriage, and finds solace in ideology: the women’s movement; the idea of free love; taking a water cure … More than anything, however, she dreams of true love. Her husband disappoints. he has blackened teeth and halitosis. He is a hypochondriac. Ultimately, he dies and she is put on trial for his murder.

The story is told through the eyes of her maid, Hanna Wilbur, who comes to her when Isabelle is pregnant. Hanna’s matter-of-fact tone, which evokes a simpler time, carries us through. Rich in period detail, we see Hanna’s transformation from a simple maid-of-all-work to someone who firmly grasps her own destiny. Simply put, one likes Hanna. It is a fondness for her character that makes this a good historical novel–and it even partially makes up for the inscrutable character of Isabelle.