Digging For Pearls: January 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen

Julie Klassen weaves an amusing tale of Emma Smallwood in The Tutor's Daughter. Set in England in 1817, Emma is a stickler for details. Perhaps it comes as a result of being an only child, and lone female in her father's Academy for young men. But after the death of Emma's mother, her father no longer has interest in running the school. To Emma's surprise, he agrees to be a private tutor for a baronet's two sons. She has mixed feelings since they will need to live at the employer's estate, and she'll be in close contact with the two older sons - Phillip and Henry Weston, former students at her father's academy. Thoughts of Phillip make Emma's heart pound with excitement, while musings of Henry only bring about anger and annoyance.

The novel is riddled with mystery and suspicious acts. It's set against the backdrop of the coast of Cornwall during times of shipwreck and danger.

I especially enjoyed the fastidiousness of young Emma and her delight in making detailed lists, from books she wanted to read, to observations of those she came in contact. Julie Klassen has written a delightful book, which I highly recommend.

This book was provided free for review by Bethany House Publishers.

Book Info

About The Tutor's Daughter:

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.

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?

Link to buy the book: http://ow.ly/gI7qC

Meet Julie:

Julie Klassen loves all things Jane--Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. She has won the Christy Award: Historical Romance for The Silent Governess (2010) and The Girl in the Gatehouse (2011) which also won the 2010 Midwest Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie and her husband have two sons and live in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Find out more about Julie at http://www.julieklassen.com/.