"The Tutor's Daughter" by Julie Klassen

ISBN-9780764210693

About the book:  Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father when his boarding school fails, accompanies him to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But soon after they arrive and begin teaching the two younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte at night, only to find the music room empty? And who begins sneaking into her bedchamber, leaving behind strange mementoes?

The baronet's older sons, Phillip and Henry Weston, wrestle with problems--and secrets--of their own. They both remember the studious Miss Smallwood from their days at her father's academy. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her...

When suspicious acts escalate, can Emma figure out which brother to blame and which to trust with her heart? Filled with page-turning suspense, The Tutor's Daughter takes readers to the windswept Cornwall coast--a place infamous for shipwrecks and superstitions--where danger lurks, faith is tested, and romance awaits.

Review:  Author Julie Klassen has again brought a regency novel set in the year 1817 of the Jane Austen caliber to us just as she did in Maid of Fairbourn Hall (see my review of that book).  I thoroughly enjoyed the development of each of the characters in The Tutor's Daughter.  The delightful Miss Emma Smallwood, daughter of the tutor whose school is failing to the boys who have previously been students of the elder Mr. Smallwood and whom Miss Emma has dealt with when she acted as her father's assistant in the school.  The two boys each with such different characters and who had in past years been young students in the school and who have grown into manhood. And of course, Mr. Smallwood who is struggling with melancholy because of his wife's death.

An opportunity presents itself to the Smallwoods when Mr. Smallwood is called to tutor the twin sons of Sir Giles Weston,  the younger siblings of Phillip and Henry Weston whom they had previously taught in the school.  This opportunity will allow them to leave their impending poverty and move into the rambling castle on the Cornwall coast typical of the well off class during the Regency period. The castle and coastal area is replete with secrecy, mystery, beauty, and strained family relationships.  As the story develops, the twist of plot and keen attention to detail so characteristic of Julie Klassen's writing brings this Regency period historical story alive to the reader.  There is even a sweet romance that develops (and of course, I'm not telling the outcome of that).

If you are a Jane Eyre, Jane Austen, classic or Regency period enthusist, you will most likely enjoy the writings of Julie Klassen.

DISCLOSURE: A complimentary review copy of The Tutor's Daughter was provided by Bethany House in exchange for my honest review. Opinions expressed are solely my own.