The Ladies of Ivy Cottage

By: Julie Klassen / Narrated By: Elizabeth Jasicki

Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins

Once again, the Ladies of Ivy Hill meet the times with great strength and character

I enjoyed The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill so much I couldn’t wait to get to the sequel. And while, once again, I had to speed things up narration-wise to x1.25-x1.5 speeds, I found The Ladies of Ivy Cottage to be an audiobook that did not disappoint.

In this sequel, the second in the series, Rachel has been given a room at the girls’ school that Mercy and her aunt run in their house. After being left her father’s entire library as an inheritance, something she cannot disassemble and sell, she decides to start a lending library, selling subscriptions to help make ends meet. People also come by to donate books, and what she finds in those donations sets up a couple of mysteries that are developed throughout the book.

Mercy’s life is upended by the appearance of her parents, who now give her an ultimatum—get married or be prepared to close the school down so her brother and his new bride can live there. Once again, we see how little power women had at the time, especially as a) she could marry and live under the thumb of her new husband, acquiescing to his wishes, or b) she could refuse to marry and live the rest of her life as a spinster, living in her brother’s house as a caretaker to the children he’s sure to have. What will Mercy do? Especially as she’s been asked to take charge of a young girl in their school, to be parent and guardian to the child.

Jane continues her life, trying to make the Bell Inn a successful establishment, especially as the rival hotel is not up and running yet. But she’s lonely and is very much grieving the fact of her five miscarriages. When Gabriel, a man she’s come to admire, perhaps even love, returns, how can she offer him anything? He’s a man creating a life for himself, a life she can promise no children to carry on for him when he’s dead and gone. The line would die with him, and how could Jane ask that of him, of anyone? It’s all about what the woman was expected to do during the time period.

The Ladies of Ivy Cottage has plenty of mysteries to solve, plenty of hurdles to be overcome, plenty of societal norms that our women protagonists struggle to live within. But Klassen does an excellent job with writing characters we listeners care deeply about, and Elizabeth Jasicki’s narration, though slow at x1 speed (slow to me, at any rate), is topnotch. She carries female and male voices off well, and she carries the many and varied emotions each character feels well.

Plus, there’s plenty of romance, some that comes to fruition, but plenty more that can only come from the next audiobook in the series.

And I must say: I am soooo looking forward to listening to it!!!