Talk of the village (by Rebecca Shaw)

(Amazon UK link)

I had not previously come across Rebecca Shaw, but this book, in a second-hand bookshop, looked interesting. I usually like books with white covers and pastel pictures on the front, which is what my edition looked like (yes, I always make my first judgement based on the cover!).  I could tell this was a gentle village kind of novel.

'Talk of the village' is, indeed, exactly what I expected. It features the lives of people in a fictional village called Turnham Malpas. Indeed, although it stands alone, it was fairly obvious that it is part of a series.

The Vicar and his wife adopt some babies in this book, although they do it amidst rumours about the babies' parentage.

Meanwhile, two elderly and apparently senile women nearly kill a child, prior to having a very distressing past revealed.

Meanwhile (again), an elderly couple decide to get married.

The book is about various people in the village interacting, and reacting to what goes on. Quite a pleasant read, although I found the characters to be a bit flat.

(I later discovered that this is in fact the second in the 'Turnham Malpas' series).