The Talented Mrs Greenway by Tea Cooper
Genre: Historical, Colonial History, Fact with Fiction, Australia
Read: 21st January 2025
Published: 1st November 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
From a bestselling Australian author, this compellingly realised novel brings to life the story of an enigmatic figure, wife to feted colonial architect Francis Greenway, and asks, whose hand really shaped Sydney? Who is the talented Mrs Greenway?
1814 Sydney:When Mary Greenway, freshly arrived from the old country, steps into the maelstrom of Sydney Town with three children at her skirts, she has high hopes of a new beginning, despite having little money and a husband in irons. After all, the sudden death of her sadistic first husband has meant freedom from her gilded cage and Francis Greenway is an architect of some promise, under the protection of Admiral Phillip himself.
Mary herself is a woman of great resources and an even greater creative passion, a passion that will surely burn through anything that the filthy, burgeoning, vitality of colonial Sydney can throw at her. Soon ensconced in a tiny cottage in George Street, Mary sets about moulding a life for her family from the unpromising clay of this new colony, with a determination fired in equal parts by guilt for her disastrous past action that nearly brought ruin to them all and desire to see her true calling realised.
When she is befriended by Elizabeth Macquarie it seems that fate is smiling on them with the promise of a better life in her grasp. But fate is a difficult mistress and with past secrets to keep, and current betrayals on the brink of discovery, the stakes are higher than ever. With Mary's grip on this new life slipping, will her past lies come back to haunt her?
MY THOUGHTS:
I came across this book at the nursing home my father is in and thought it sounded interesting with a story based on fact and real people woven into the fabric of our colonial history. I've not read Tea Cooper before but after enjoying this tale I am certainly interested in reading more by her.
Mary Greenway was the little known wife of convict architect Francis Greenway, whose many structures still stand today over 200 years later. So little was known about his wife that the author was fascinated by her and the role she played as Mrs Greenway. But of course, she didn't begin as Mary Greenway. Her story begins in an arranged married to a brute of a man, Captain James Fripp, who viewed his wife's sole purpose in life was to produce him with an heir and a spare and yet after several years of marriage she hadn't even managed that. He spent more time away from the stunning home in Bath her father had built for his daughter in memory of her mother, squandering her father's wealth with his lavish lifestyle.
She first met young Francis Greenway when he came to the house to discuss some plans for extension with her husband, who had forgotten the appointment and was not there to meet him. Mary, however, spent an entertaining time with Mr Greenway discussing their shared interests in architecture and design. But her husband disagreed with Greenway's vision and thus tore up their handshake agreement and refused to pay him for the designs he had already made. When Mary finally produced an heir in young George, Fripp soon lost interest and it was when she was pregnant with her second child that Fripp suddenly dies in a tragic (but rather fortuitous) accident.
Upon hearing of Fripp's demise, Greenway pays Mary a condolence visit and thus hears of the difficulties he had with her husband. Mary shares Greenway's vision and offers to sponsor him but then she learns of the dire financial straits Fripp had left them in, squandering her inheritance and requiring the sale of her beloved home her father had loving built her. Greenway's business falls into bankruptcy and upon declaring his love for Mary, the couple marry but their financial woes are far from over.
Francis adores Mary but he can be arrogant and stubborn, so when a client also refuses to honour their contract, Francis tears the place apart searching for his copy to produce as evidence of their agreement. When he does so, he is then arrested for and convicted for forgery of the said document. As forgery is a hanging offence, he is sentenced to death but only through the social influence of certain people saves him from the gallows and he is transported for a term of 14 years to the Colony of New South Wales where he will be given the position of government architect under Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
Devastated by the sentence but relieved he will not hang, Mary determines that she and her sons will follow Francis out to the colony to make a life there as free settlers. The sea journey is tough and upon arrival at Sydney Town there are yet even more challenges. Mary soon learns to navigate the rough and ready streets of the colony, discovering unwritten rules as well as tensions that arise. But her unexpected friendship with Elizabeth Macquarie, wife of Lachlan Macquarie, soon proves to be an advantage through his designs as the government's architect and his ticket of leave as a convict. Sharing her love of architecture with Elizabeth, Mary finds that her ideas are soon incorporated into many of Francis' designs that become peppered throughout the colony and beyond.
Tea Cooper delivers a wonderful engaging story that weaves fact with fiction in this tale of the little known Mary Greenway with the sights, sounds and smells of colonial Australia. From the affluent cities of Bath and Bristol to the primitive colony of Sydney, Cooper paints a vivid picture of the undeveloped primeval dusty streets littered with sewage and rats to the hot and humid climate so foreign to that which she was familiar with. She also depicts Francis as hot headed and sometimes arrogant, clashing with his superiors in defence of what he terms as "his art" whilst the strength behind the man responsible for so many of Sydney's earliest buildings was that of his wife Mary. The talented Mrs Greenway.
The title comes directly from the words of her husband Francis, published in the Sydney Monitor after her death as "the mild unobtrusive but talented Mrs Greenway".
A light read that is as delightful as it is captivating. I devoured it in a day and I think historical fiction fans will enjoy. The author's historical notes at the end also made for interesting reading as well which helped to make sense of her depiction of Mary Greenway and what endeavoured to be her story.
Map of Sydney Town in 1824 during the Greenway's time
MEET THE AUTHOR:
For many years writing remained the stuff of fantasy. Her family, a herd of alpacas, a protea farm and a full time teaching job kept her occupied until one day she decided it was time to do or die. No more procrastination. The characters and plots that had lived in her head for so long were clamouring to escape.
In August 2011 Tea joined Romance Writers of Australia and her debut novel The Horse Thief was published in November 2015. She she has become enmeshed in twisty historical mysteries that mix fact and fiction.
Tea is a member of the Historical Novel Society of Australasia, The Australian Society of Authors, and Sisters in Crime. She is currently working on her next historical mystery.
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