Girl Wife Prisoner by Hanna Peach
Series: A Good Wife, #1
Women’s Fiction/Contemporary
September 19, 2015
Gypsy Publishing
Reviewed by Tori
How far would you go to set yourself free?
Drake Blackwell is intelligent, successful, controlling, and hiding a violent family past. He just made his latest investment: Noriko.
Imported from Japan and wed to a stranger, Noriko struggles to stick to the rules of a Good Wife. Drake can’t seem to love her, not the way she wants to be loved. She dreams of freedom beyond the gates of Blackwell Manor.
She meets Keir, a passionate young gardener who shares her desire to break free. He gets under her skin and ignites a fire in her she can’t ignore. In the midst of her quiet desperation she thinks she has found happiness. And a glimpse of hope.
But this affair can’t last…can it?
There is a darkness lingering, but not how you’d expect. There are monsters, but not as you usually know them. The truth is, in this story, no one is completely innocent. And it’s always darkest before the dawn. (goodreads)
Girl Wife Prisoner reminded me heavily of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca in its overall construct though the author does attempt to modernize with some basic changes and unexpected twists. Narrated by the heroine (whom is named), we hear her tale of love, loss, deception, revenge, and redemption. We learn of the ultimate sacrifice one can make for love only to discover that the devil is always in the details. This is not a romance in the truest sense of the genre. This is more of a cautionary tale. A tragedy. There is a love story in here but it is used more as a learning experience to show readers the psychological and physical ramifications of lost hopes and shattered dreams.
Noriko, a young woman (approx. 17 years of age) from Japan, arranges to be a wealthy man’s mail order bride in exchange for payment of her beloved father’s medical bills. Filled with trepidation and hope, Noriko comes to her future home with every intention of honoring her commitment and being the “good wife” that her new husband, Drake Blackwell, has bought and paid for.
When she arrives at Blackwell Manor, her husband is nowhere to be found and she is instead greeted by her new husband’s jealous personal assistant and the over zealous housekeeper. She is left to her own devices for days at a time. In her loneliness she goes looking for a friend only to learn that the staff have specific instructions on how to interact with the new mistress. Her introduction and subsequent relationship with Drake does not go as she has envisioned and Noriko discovers her marriage is little more than a gilded cage she voluntarily walked it. A chance meeting with an attractive gardener gives her an outlet for the desolation and loneliness she is feeling but as their friendship turns to something deeper, Noriko finds that everything has a price and sometimes that price is your soul.
Similarities to du Maurier’s Rebecca are seen throughout the story. A young penniless bride and an older wealthy man marry. A home shrouded in sorrow and darkness by it’s former owners. Isolation and secrets are alluded to over the former mistress’s death. The husband never spends the night in bed with his wife. There is a wing that the heroine is warned is off limits. We have a Mrs. Danvers and a Frank-though their roles are revised in here. There’s even a scene where Noriko is tricked into wearing something of the former mistress’s in hopes her husband, Drake, will react negatively. Yet regardless of the similarities, Peach does strive to make this her own with her development of Noriko and the channeling of her youthful voice and strong emotions. She reminds us constantly she is nothing like Mrs. De Winters.
While reading it was very easy to forget Noriko is essentially a child who has been tossed into an unknown situation with no one at her back. She is in a strange country with no friends, no family, and most importantly, no money. She is utterly dependant on her husband who seems to completely ignore her one minute and dominate her every move the next. Though in the beginning she seems at times to be reacting purely on an emotional level, striking out at everyone around her, you soon see she is far more complex and intelligent then she lets on. When she finally lets down her guard, we begin to see the true Noriko and it’s here that the story picks up the pace and it’s similarities to Rebecca ease off. We begin to see the cracks in Noriko’s psyche that Drake’s actions have caused. Peach doesn’t as spend much time as I would have liked in developing Blackmore or its master though. I would have liked to have seen Drake as more than just a prop in Noriko’s evolution. Or devolution as it may be.
The ending surprised me and further complicated my final impressions of Noriko. Rather than ease us in, Peach chooses to go for the jugular, taking us at a whiplash pace of speed and allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about the events taking place. Noriko’s choices were unusual, extremely dramatic at one point, yet somewhat understandable when the picture is viewed as a whole. Love can make us commit horrific acts when we are driven to the edge of the abyss. The story leaves off on a hopeful note, giving us the impression that Noriko has a chance at the happiness she tried desperately to find at Blackwell.
RATING: C+
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