Publication Date: December 6, 2023
About the Author: Julie Klassen loves all things Jane—Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. Her books have sold more than 1.5 million copies, and she is a three-time recipient of the Christy Award for Historical Romance. The Secret of Pembrooke Park was honored with the Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie has also won the Midwest Book Award and Christian Retailing‘s Best Award and has been a finalist in the RITA and Carol Awards. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full-time. She and her husband have two sons and live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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MY REVIEW
The Summers family, forced to retrench and keep a boarding house, enter the season of winter wondering if they’ll be able to book enough lodgers and meet their expenses. News arrives, however, that the Duke of Kent (brother to the Prince Regent) will be staying at nearby Woolbrook Cottage with his family, and the royal retinue reserves places at the Summers’ boarding house for several lesser members of the party.
Emily Summers, the beauty of the family, has already had the misfortune of being deceived and disappointed by gentlemen about their intentions. When James Thomson, the duke’s handsome private secretary, begins to seek out her company, she wonders if any of his interest is real. Complicating the matter is the arrival of Emily’s former beau, Charles Parker, a man whom Emily still yearns for. Charles had distanced himself from the Summers after the oldest sister Claire became a fallen woman, but now he seems ready to let bygones be bygones and renew his addresses to Emily. Will Emily choose him or his erstwhile schoolmate James Thomson?
The rivalry between Charles Parker and James Thomson is depicted well as they “practice” fencing with one another. Charles has always been better trained, and yet, James Thomson is the one who seems to be able to come to a lady’s rescue when it really counts.
While the previous book in the series involved some delightful portrayals of Jane Austen characters, this book is far more historical in nature, following the arrival, stay, illness, and death of the future Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent. The book shows how shocking it was for a measly cold to destroy the life of one of the heirs to the throne. It shows the German heritage of the royal family, and glimpses of the desolated duchess and strict Captain Conroy who would control the child Victoria’s life as she grew into her eventual role as queen of England.
As with the previous novel, the story is a complex one, with many threads woven in and out of the tale involving the various Summer sisters. In one thread of the story, Emily continues to exercise her skills as a writer, editing a memoir by one of their elderly friends and writing a guidebook to their small seaside town. Her decision to write for the rival to her favorite bookstore owner causes her almost as much angst as her decision whether to renew her romance with Charles Parker.
The story is peppered with interesting side details about the duke’s depressed table dresser (the man who gets to guard the silver candlesticks and set a fancy table), the duke’s volatile pastry chef (whose delicious cuisine is quite exotic in Sidmouth), older sister Sarah Summer’s continuing efforts to maintain the inn (and avoid too much fraternizing with the pastry chef), and younger sister Viola’s efforts to support the poor house (with the support of her dashing husband from the previous book).
The rich tapestry of historical detail and family relationships make this a novel well worth the reader’s time. Recommended.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Emily pressed a hand over her heart, trying to massage it through bone and flesh. It physically ached. Unbidden, the fortune-teller’s words returned to her once more. “You shall break your heart. Lose it…utterly.”
A Winter by the Sea, by Julie Klassen
Rosanne E. Lortz 