The Girl in the Gatehouse

I'll be honest.  I get really excited when I look in my inbox and see that Bethany House Book Reviewers program has sent me an email.  For some reason, they seem to have some of the absolute best historical fiction available.  So much so, that it's really hard for me to choose which book I want to read and review for them!

I finally whittled my decision down to The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen.  When I received the book, I new I was going to enjoy it when I read the little blurb on the back cover about the author.  I quote: "Julie Klassen loves all things Jane- Jane Eyre and Jane Austen."  I mean, be still my beating heart!  But onto the book...

The Girl in the Gatehouse is the story of Mariah Aubrey, a young woman banished from her home because of a secret in her past.  She seeks refuge in an abandoned gatehouse at the estate of a distant relative and begins supporting herself and her loyal servant in a most unlady-like way: writing novels.  Several months after she settles into her new home at the gatehouse, Captain Matthew Bryant leases the estate, determined to impress and win the woman who rejected him years before.  But as he learns more about the mysterious girl in the gatehouse, he begins to piece together Mariah's past and is faced with the decision to befriend a woman shadowed by scandal or risk the love of the another woman- the one whose love he has coveted for years.

This book was a light and fun read.  Indeed, it was written very much in a Jane Austen-esqe style, and since it is set as Austen's contemporary, the author even made some allusions to Austen herself, without making it seem like an anachronism.  There is more to the book except the central love story, and the author does an excellent job of developing the characters relatively quickly- especially some of the supporting characters.  While there are some aspects of the story that are a bit more hard to believe, I don't mind those a bit since it is, after all, fiction.  I recommend this book if you're a fan of Jane Austen, as it presents a good picture of the society in which she lived.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."