At seventeen-years-old Miss Cassandra Mortmain lives in an old castle with her penniless family. Cassandra has dreams of becoming a writer like her famous father; in her journals, she attempts to develop her own voice. Throughout the six months chronicles, the Mortmain household in rural Suffolk weathers several significant changes.
Cassandra’s family includes her father: a famous author, her stepmother Topaz who is an artist’s model and muse, Cassandra’s older sister Rose is a ‘true beauty’ at twenty-one, her younger brother is still in the schoolroom and unreasonably bright, and their adopted live-in servant Stephen Who is unbelievably in love with Cassandra and has lived with the family since his mother’s death.
In a reflection of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice the manor house which owns the Mortmain castle finds new ownership and occupants. The charming Americans who take up residence are compelling and fascinate the two girls. Rose sets her cap at the elder brother and thus begins the great drama.
When it appears the elder brother has fallen for the beautiful Rose, Cassandra spends more and more time with the charming young men. She is fascinated by the new music and stories he shares and begins to fall for the older brother. The man then proposes to Rose. Cassandra is enamored of her sister's fiance and takes every chance she can to spend time with him.
The younger Mortmain sister doesn't begrudge her beautiful sister the man's attention, only wishes for a love of her own. Rose's life and future occupy much of Cassandra's journal as she reflects on the ever-changing dynamic of their family as Rose's prospects change.
Cassandra grows from an impressionable young girl to a young woman as she navigates relationships new and old. She learns more about herself and the members of her family through the Mortmain family's changing circumstances. Teen readers and those who enjoy traditional British wit will find Cassandra's observations amusing and sometimes refreshingly pointed.
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