‘The Chocolate Maker’s Wife’ Takes A Stand in Restoration London [REVIEW]

Chocolate has never been so tempting. (Photo courtesy Canva)

An impoverished girl. An arranged marriage. Loads of decadent chocolate. In the midst of 17th-century London, a young woman’s dreams may come true or be shattered forever when she becomes The Chocolate Maker’s Wife in Karen Brooks’ new historical novel of sweet temptation. 

William Morrow

It is 1662, and illegitimate Rosamund Tomkins is being raised by her wealthy grandmother. Only eight years old when the old woman dies, Rosamund returns to live with her mother at her stepfather’s inn, a place where she is faced with cruelty, hard work, and lecherous stepbrothers she avoids at all cost.

When she tries to escape that life, she quite literally runs into Sir Everard Blithman, a wealthy nobleman who immediately takes a shine to her. Not one to waste a good opportunity when she sees one, Rosamund’s mother arranges for her to marry Blithman, and soon she is on her way to a new home where she wonders if she has traded one bad environment for another.

Blithman notes Rosamund’s beauty and charming demeanor, and puts her in charge of managing his latest business venture: a London chocolate house that caters to an affluent clientele with an insatiable appetite for the addictive new drink. As she navigates her elite customers, Rosamund finds that her life has become something she never quite expected. She rises in the ranks of high society, earning a place among London’s poshest set. But will she be able to maintain her new life or will disaster send her right back to the poor house?

The Chocolate Maker’s Wife is an epic novel set in the midst of London’s Restoration. It is a saga populated with historical figures who lived, loved, and vowed revenge all while enduring unforgettable events like the Great Fire and even the plague. Brooks does a tremendous job weaving together the threads of history and thus paints a vibrant portrait of life at the time, even as she maintains her focus on her effervescent heroine.

There is so much going on in this novel, we can’t help but marvel at how Brooks juggles such a complex story, one that is rich and layered, nuanced and forthright. It is a tale perfect for the #MeToo movement, one which reveals the power of a woman, even at a time when women were thought of more as objects to be owned rather than as individuals to be respected for their skill, intelligence, and fortitude.

If you enjoy reading stories by modern masters like Ken Follett, Gill Paul and Philippa Gregory, you will happily lose yourself in the pages of this enthralling novel. The plot is rife with suspense, and is as addictive as the hot chocolate Rosamund serves her guests. She is a woman to cheer for, one who is capable, enchanting, and ahead of her time. She is a force to be reckoned with, one intent on forging her own destiny. No fairy godmother required.

Karen Brooks
(Photo by Stephen Brooks)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Brooks, the author of nine novels, is also an academic, a newspaper columnist, and a social commentator who has appeared regularly on national TV and radio in her native Australia. Before turning to academia, she was an army officer and dabbled in acting.

She lives in Hobart, Tasmania, in a beautiful stone house with its own marvelous history. When she’s not writing, she’s helping her husband Stephen in his brewery, Captain Bligh’s Ale and Cider, or cooking for family and friends, traveling, cuddling and walking her dogs, stroking her cats, or curled up with a great book and dreaming of more stories.

To find out more about the author, visit her at her home on the Web at KarenRBrooks.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

THE CHOCOLATE MAKER’S WIFE
By Karen Brooks
608 pp. William Morrow. $16.99

Purchase The Chocolate Maker’s Wife at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, HarperCollins, IndieBound, and Powell’s.

The Chocolate Maker’s Wife is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.