The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh is a novel of historical fiction that is set in South Africa during the 1880s. It is the story of Frances Irvine who, after growing up in a life of privilege, finds herself destitute after the death of her father. She accepts an offer of marriage to a young doctor who she has never particularly cared for. She soon finds herself emigrating to Africa to join him.

On board ship headed for Cape Town, she meets and falls in love with William Westwood but although he declares his love for her, he walks away due to the urging of his wealthy cousin. Her new husband, Dr. Edwin Matthews, is a seemingly cold and unemotional man whose passion seems to be reserved for fighting the epidemic of smallpox that officials in Kimberly are covering up in order not to disturb the flow of diamonds. Frances is ill-prepared for her new life and makes many mistakes, the biggest by far is under-estimating her husband and thinking that William Westwood would be a better match for her.

I was totally absorbed by The Fever Tree finding it compelling, interesting and evocative. The African setting is brought to life vividly and the story of love, betrayal and loss was believable and touching. The descriptions of the smallpox epidemic and the greed of the diamond merchants is brought to life with such powerful images that I found it hard to believe that this is a debut novel. I look forward to reading more from this author. ( )

Four and a half stars. Really, really good story. Well written and very interesting. ( )

I was up all night finishing this book. I loved it. I went from man to man just like Frances.
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I read another book by this author and loved it so I wanted to read this novel but I was a little disappointed. This book did not pull me in the way the other book did and I really did not like the main character. she was snobby and selfish. I could see difficulties she was enduring but really could not bring myself to feel very sorry for her because of her attitudes.I won't say this book was bad I just did not love it. ( )

My blog post about this book is at this link. ( )