Summerset Abbey

Summerset Abbey by T. J. Brown, 2013 Gallery Books

     Sir Philip Buxton raised Rowena, Victoria, and Prudence as sisters--three eligible young women who are drawn into shifting class politics in Edwardian England as the world hesitates on the edge of war. Rowena and Victoria are Sir Buxton's natural daughters and Prudence Tate their invaluable governess's daughter. But when Prudence's mother dies she becomes one of the Buxton girls in all but name.
     When their father dies, the three girls are drawn back to the ancestral home at Summerset Abbey where their class separations are thrown into sharp contrast. Until the Buxton daughters reach their majorities their uncle will control Sir Philip's estate, and the three women's fates.
     Rowena doesn't know what to do about her sisters' reaction to their changing circumstances and is frozen into doing nothing for the fear. Victoria suffers from asthma and fights for the life she dreams of, while uncovering a dangerous family secret. Prudence longs to belong, either to the downstairs world where Lord and Lady Buxton have shunted her, but she knows she belongs alongside her sisters. The relationships between Rowena, Prudence and Victoria become strained as they struggle to balance.
     Life at Summerset is not what it seems, and the attendees are more than they portray. As the world rolls closer and closer to conflict on a global scale definitions are re-written and it is the younger generation who will cement the new social and political landscape. Summerset Abbey is a novel for older readers--more appropriate for high schoolers with innuendo and political subtleties peppering the story.