The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian Fiction
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance, Mystery
Content: Clean

 

To escape a scheme to marry her off to a dishonorable man, Margaret Macy flees London disguised as a housemaid. If she can remain unwed until her next birthday, she will receive an inheritance, and with it, sweet independence. But she never planned on actually working as a servant. And certainly not in the home of Nathaniel and Lewis Upchurch--both former suitors.

As she fumbles through the first real work of her life, Margaret struggles to keep her identity secret when suspicions arise and prying eyes visit Fairbourne Hall. Can she avoid a trap meant to force her from hiding?

Brimming with romance and danger, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall takes readers inside the fascinating belowstairs world of a 19th-century English manor, where appearances can be deceiving. 

 

This book was really good. I especially liked the upstairs/downstairs aspect of the story.  In the beginning the main character, Margaret was naive and pampered by wealthy parents, but her step father, a despicable man, has his eye on the fortune she's about to inherit from her aunt and is trying to marry her off to a relative of his who is in cahoots with him to try and steal it. This relative is also not a good man and after overhearing their plans, Margaret decides she must run away and leaves in disguise with one of the maids who has been dismissed. She ends up in the home of a man who had previously proposed marriage to her, but she had rejected. 

Margaret has quite the eye-opening experience of learning how the folks below stairs live. What I liked the most about the book was how Margaret went from the pampered, naive girl to someone who worked hard and had compassion for others and their circumstances. She really tried to do the right thing, even at cost to herself a couple of times. I also liked that the book wasn't preachy with the Christian themes, but just let the messages be woven into the story.

The love interest ended up being very likable and I enjoyed reading about his past and how he wanted nothing to do with his father's sugar plantation because of the use of slaves. The theme of slavery and the fight against it was a big topic in the book. I felt like things wrapped up a bit too neatly with his father in the end, but that was a minor weakness. I kept anticipating when he would recognize Margaret and they would finally get together. It was a good kind of anticipation, and the romance happened gradually. Overall this was another great Julie Klassen book.