1813. Venetia Lovell lives by the sea in Kent with her pretty, frivolous mother and idle younger brother. Venetia's father, Theo, is an interior decorator to the rich and frequently travels away from home, leaving his sensible and artistic daughter to look after the family. Venetia designs paper hangings and she and her father often daydream about having an imaginary shop where they would display the highest quality furniture, fabrics and art to his clients.
When a handsome but antagonistic stranger, Jack Chamberlaine, arrives at the Lovell's cottage just before Christmas bringing terrible news, Venetia's world is turned upside-down and the family have no option but to move to London, to the House in Quill Court and begin a new life. Here, Venetia's courage and creativity are tested to breaking point, and she discovers a love far greater than she could have ever imagined . . .
Published: August 2016
Publisher: Piatkus
Goodreads : Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
MY REVIEW
I was so excited so be able to read this for this blog tour. I believe it was last year I read one of Charlotte Betts' other novels, The Chateau on the Lake, which I loved. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this and start reading! What I love about Charlotte Betts' writing is the fact that from the minute I started reading I could really feel like I was inside the story and seeing things from a 'fly on the wall' perspective. For this book, it was exactly that.
There is a really unexpected twist in this story that I certainly was not expecting and watching characters react to this in their own way was one of the best parts of this novel. You have one character who gets angry, one character who drowns their sorrows and another who rises to the occasion and try to make the best of it.
Another great part of this story is that we are not only following the story of Venetia and her family but the story of Kitty who is employed by Venetia's household. We see her make certain choices based on the unexpected twist and have to deal with the consequences of her choices. It was more like seeing two sides of the coin, you have Venetia who is from upper class society and Kitty who is in the lower class both of whom have some pretty big decisions to make.
What a fantastic historical novel that should not be missed. If you haven't picked up this yet, you need to!
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