I felt the book ended somewhat abruptly, then discovered it is the first of a trilogy. And Prudence struggles to find her own self amid all the upheaval. Victoria discovers a secret that could destroy the family and change lives forever. Rowena and Victoria will remain at Summerset Abbey until they marry.Īs time passes, Rowena becomes more distant toward Prudence. The uncle relents, for now, but Prudence is only allowed to accompany the girls as a servant. However, Rowena convinces him that Victoria, who suffers from asthma, needs Prudence. Following her mother's death, Sir Philip raised Prudence as one of his own and the bond between the three girls is strong.įollowing Sir Philip's death, his brother brings the girls to his home, Summerset Abbey. Rowena and Victoria are sisters, Prudence was the daughter of a governess.

The story follows three girls raised as sisters by Sir Philip Buxton. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.If you are a Downton Abbey fan (and let's face it, we all are), you will enjoy this book. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society-as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret-Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever.

Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions-and loyalties-lie.įrail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey.

Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. 1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war.

Summerset abbey by tj brown