The Shopkeeper's Wife

by Noelle Sickels

In 1886 Philadelphia, Hannah Willer begins employment as a maid for Isabelle Martin, the pregnant wife of a prosperous shopkeeper. When the man dies under suspicious circumstances, Hanna finds herself... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312193335
• ISBN13: 9780312193331
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 371 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Marvelously Subtle Study of Repression

The Shopkeepers Wife is one of those occasional gems one pulls from the bookstore shelf and only realizes the treat in store when the reading begins. This is a marvelously subtle treatment of gentile, repressed womanhood in the late 1800s, seen thought the eyes of Isabelle's young maid Hanna. As often happens with people we know in life, Isabelle remains as much of a mystery at the end of the book as she was at the beginning. In playing her unwitting part in Isabelle's life and murder trial, Hanna observes, draws conclusions, but still wonders what really happened. Sickles deftly avoids the temptation to tie everything up in a neat little knot at the end, leaving us with much to think about. She is also dead-on in her use of effective metaphors. Usually when I notice frequent metaphors in fiction, it is because they are clumsy and irritating. However, Sickles is a master at appropriate and unobtrusive metaphors that pull their weight to enhance the story, the character, the action, the mood. Highly recommendable.

Beautifully written -- charming and engaging novel.

Noelle Sickels has the most amazing way of bringing characters to life. I ended up reading this whole novel in one day because I couldn't put it down once I got involved with the characters. There is a warm and touching story here within the backdrop of the superbly-researched setting of late-19th Century Philidelphia. Sickels takes great care in making each character -- even the most minor of them -- come alive and seem like real, well-rounded individuals. There are no flat characters within this book. Each character is given unique qualities through not only description from the narrator, but through their dialogue, their actions, and their interactions with other characters. For example, the reader is able to see the character of Mr. Edwin not only as the narrator's employer, but as a husband, a shopkeeper, a son, a brother, and so on. Also, there are such vivid details (like his rotten teeth/foul breath, his sketches of window displays, and the way he likes his wife to hold his foot) that really make him seem like a real person and not just a fictional character. The attention to details that Sickels has mastered blows me away. She paints a complete picture of so many layers of this story all unfolding at once. There are many descriptions of places and events that stand out in my mind. Also, there are so many touching moments in this story, and the way in which Sickels presents emotional issues from blossoming romance to suicide is wonderfully understated. She does a great job of not falling into the trap of over-dramatization. One of the most amazing parts of the writing in this novel is the way that the author turned a murder case into a fight between different realms of social thought. I was impressed by the author's ability to incorporate such heavy issues as those involved in the birth of women's rights into such a well-crafted story. I do not think that writing with such an agenda often works for writers (whose works sometimes read like info-mercials), but Sickels handles this beautifully. She lays out all sides of the issues so well and, yet, does not let it overpower the story as a whole. Her balance and control of language impresses me beyond words. This book has it all: mystery, suspense, drama, history, tragedy, romance, and friendship -- all intertwined with gender issues in a beautifully written novel that unwraps itself slowly and carefully to stay with its readers long after it's been read.