The Maid of Fairbourne Hall: A Forced Proximity Historical Regency Romance Novel

Great story. Full of intrigue and hope. Laughter at times. Engaging characters and God’s plans intertwined. Couldn’t put it down.

I liked the premise of this book, and liked even more that the heroine actually grew up in the book and her world view changed. A few points to know, the heroine needs just 3 months of safety until she reaches her birthday and can then get her inheritance and not have to worry about her step father trying to marry her off to his nephew so he can control the money. The hero of the story is a man who seems to have lived under his older brother's shadow. Considering his older brother will one day have a title, this isn't something that is shocking, so the younger brother (the hero) has known from a young age he is going to have to make his own way in the world, so he has been trying to become a good business man, and for the most part succeeding despite the objections by his father, and his brother's attempt to just keep spending money they don't have. The hero and heroine meet about 2-3 years before the book starts out and are courting, then the heroine meets the hero's older brother and throws him over for the title. However, the older brother is just a flirt and has no intention of having any honorable intentions towards any woman for a very long time. Unfortunately for the heroine she doesn't realize this for a very long time because she is basically a vain and self absorbed woman until she overhears her step father telling his nephew to get her consent to wed her even if he has to compromise her to do it. Now the hero's older brother probably would have helped her through marriage if he had known about the inheritance but the heroine's mother and father (real one not the step father) decided not to let it be known because they didn't want to deal with fortune hunters. They also figured because of her beauty her getting married wouldn't be a problem. So the heroine runs away with a maid who has just been sacked, because the heroine stole money and the maid was blamed, but since the heroine can't go back she basically screws the maid over (like I said the woman was vain and self absorbed and really only cared about herself, her brother and sister and her mother, everyone else could go hang) because heroine will not tell the truth. But she does write the maid a glowing reference that allows her to get a job. Through a series of events that I will not get into, the heroine ends up working in the house of the hero as a maid, it is very grueling work, and since the heroine has never worked a day in her life, this is a very new experience, which also opens her eyes to how servants are treated and how thankless their jobs are. During this experience she really starts to change and becomes a more compassionate person towards others and starts to put their comforts above her own. She also learns while at the house just how unworthy the older brother is and how worthy the younger brother is. She realizes that she has probably burned the bridge with the younger brother, but still holds out hope that maybe one day he will be able to forgive her and get back together. This is a christian book and I didn't feel the characters had to force this, it was part of their being, even if they weren't necessarily good christians (I mean who is?) but you could tell they sincerely wanted to follow Christ, just sometimes were at a loss. I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good christian based historical novel, with a little bit of romance thrown in.

Since I got my Kindle a number of years ago, I've read a number of free or very cheap Kindle books, one of them being Julie Klassen's The Apothecary's Daughter, which I found well written and quite interesting. This sparked my interest in this author, and since then, I've purchased The Girl in the Gatehouse and now this title, The Maid of Fairbourne Hall. I often enjoy reading books with romance and a good plot, and this one seemed like it would be particularly up my alley as it contained the popular elements of things not being what they appear, and people able to transform their characters, which leads to the all the different ways you can imagine revelation and surprise. My favorite Bible stories are the story of Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers, and the prodigal son returning, completely changed in attitude, expecting little, but receiving much. Two of my favorite books of all time, Pride & Prejudice and Les Miserables contain these elements as well. So with the story of a Regency era lady having to completely transcend her own class background to go into the service, and then ending up in the home of a spurned suitor, what is not to love? And I did love the book for about the first 80%. Margaret Macy is the pretty daughter of a loving family with a clergyman father, educated in the traditional societal institutions. At the start of the story, her father has died and her mother is remarried to a man who appeared charming at first, but is cold and controlling, needing to build his personal coffers with the inheritance that will be awarded to Margaret upon her 25th birthday. Fearing for her virtue and a forced marriage, Margaret flees from her home with little more than the clothes on her back and a few pilfered coins. After some various adventures, she ends up a housemaid in the home of the man who once asked for her hand in marriage, the younger, serious bespectacled brother of a more charming, witty and handsome man, Lewis Upchurch. But, of course, we discover that Lewis has not much to recommend him in terms of character and work ethic as does his brother Nathaniel. Part of the story is Margaret coming to realize this, and a lot of the story is how she deals with the difficult work of a housemaid. Of course in stories like this, the reader always knows the truth, that the heroine has resources and some power being a member of a privileged class, even if it is temporarily unavailable to her. So stories like this can just reinforce this base feeling that it's OK that the heroine is in debased circumstances, because we know she's really not that person, she's actually a person of merit. But the author constantly brings us back to the reality, that these other characters, the various servants of the Upchurch family, are people with feelings and lives and endure hardships that they can't escape. The religious elements help with this part of the story, especially given that the Upchurch family has made their fortune from a Barbados sugar plantation. Even as a guilty pleasure, it's hard to enjoy reading about people who have profited through slavery, and anytime you read a book about the upper class from this time in history, it's a given. So with Nathaniel, as a God fearing man, realizes that slavery is cruel and wants to put an end to his family's part in it, and Margaret (also a believer), working as a servant and realizing some of the cruelty in this system, the reader can feel that the characters have some virtue to them. The thing I didn't like about the book was the plotting at the end. A lot of different story elements come together in a climax around the same time, and at a certain point the story of the servants mostly falls away to deal with some intrigue & mystery surrounding Lewis. At that point the story telling becomes perfunctory, just trying to get the mystery revealed. The more intricate stuff falls away at that point, and things which could have been really interesting become more anticlimactic. There were some romantic elements introduced with the servants, and not particularly followed up on, which is fine to a point, they aren't all going to have a conclusion, but I felt that there could have been a little more closure to all of this especially with Margaret's relationship with the servants and with her own maid, Joan, who was dismissed from service at the time that Margaret escaped. I was hoping for at least some sort of epilogue instead of just being left with some hints that things might work out a certain way. I wanted there to be more with Margaret's revelation and more with her relationship with Nathaniel. That said, I do think the romance, although limited, was more present here than in the other two novels I read, and I found it really enjoyable. I just wish the author hadn't tried to stretch out the suspense of the romantic conclusion in the way that she had, and spent the last few pages in a different way.

Does reliably fresh sound like an oxymoron? Not when the pen is in Julie Klassen's hand. She writes twists and secrets into The Maid of Fairbourne Hall to keep us glued to the page. This is stimulating historical fiction with just the right amount of romance. Margaret has no recourse but to flee when she learns that her stepfather and would-be fiancé are plotting for her inheritance. Think of the culture shock when a London woman of station sneaks out of her home and takes a job as a housemaid. Imagine the emotional turmoil when she discovers she has been employed in the home of her former suitors! Breathe a sigh of relief with her when she is told that housemaids should be invisible to the family that they serve. Early on in the story, the standard upstairs/downstairs stereotypes are challenged when Margaret's maid starts giving her orders so that Margaret can escape an unwanted marriage. Once employed at Fairbourne Hall, Margaret risks immediate dismissal because she doesn't have any idea how to make up a bed. Don't miss the brush scene. It is priceless. We never know if or when her masquerade will be discovered. All in all, this is great storytelling. The characters are well fleshed out. Although Margaret fumbles a bit at her identity change, she is a resourceful and multi-faceted character. The balances of trust and suspicion between her and Helen Upchurch work particularly well. Klassen accurately portrays the upstairs/downstairs world so prevalent in the early 18th century Regency class system and inserts some class-busters for interest. In addition, the hierarchy and dynamics among the servants give the book great depth. This reader found the servant world more interesting than the romance. Julie Klassen has secured a place as a noted author of the Regency period. Unwilling to sit on her laurels, she researches each new book thoroughly. Her many sources are used as epigraphs before each chapter. Servanthood is a great teacher and appears in many guises throughout The Maid of Fairbourne Hall. Thumbs up for this rewarding read. Bethany House graciously provided the review copy for my unbiased opinion. Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont

This is such a fantastic adventure of grit & determination for this young heroine!!! It will be extremely entertaining to all who read it.

I did like this book, but it was a little slow to start off. After reading 'The Silent Governess' for the third time this book seemed a bit more laborious, like it took a little bit more to write it. However, still very enjoyable and I really appreciated that Klassen obviously worked hard to present an accurate picture for us of what a servant's life was like versus the people who employed them. The dual perspective was amazing. I also liked how some of the characters' eyes were opened, like Nathaniel's, to how much they still took for granted in their lives, especially in dealings with the servants. Another aspect of this book I really appreciated was the fact that after Margaret came back as herself (no longer disguised as a servant) she kept her new perspective of treating servants as real people who were simply trying to do their best at their work rather than reverting to her old attitude of taking for granted everything they did for her. What really stood out to me in this situation was that she even corrects her younger sister's attitude toward the servants when she is complaining about one particular servant. This circumstance shows that Margaret really did learn from her experience working as a servant. I am so glad she did not just compartmentalize her experience as something that she had to do to survive and leave all she learned from it in the past. Rather than deny the lessons she learned in her role as a servant, she brings her new experiences back with her to her old life of being served and tries to do what she can to make her servants' lives a little easier. Other people from this time period would probably not have shown that growth of character. Congratulations, Margaret and, of course, congratulations Julie Klassen for your work of writing a great character and amazing story. Thank you.

The romance could've sang better but I appreciated the character development within Margaret. It was beautiful to witness. If you are looking to read something about human nature and how it is affected by surroundings then this is the book for you. I also appreciated how the secondary characters were fleshed out as well. Their stories could have been tied up better in the end to be sure but I liked how they were not just vague props in the background. All in all this would have been a 6 out of 5 stars read for me if only the romance was richer (the couple should have had more meaningful interactions during the story) but I still fairly enjoyed it because of Margaret's growth, and the fact that it was clean, and that it tried successfully to be rich in historical accuracy and detail. That and it was very beautifully narrated. Miss Jasicki is extremely good at her job!

This is my first experience with a book by Ms Klassen. It is sweet, clean, with some interesting moments. The beginning was excellent. The main female character was faced with a very serious and dangerous situation which she met head on. Through her obtaining a position as a maid, the story was gripping. From then on it bounced along with quite a few very slow spots and a huge cast of characters. The romance was way too delayed and repetitive. The mystery was clever. This story is entertaining but over 400 pgs is simply too much. A good editor with a red pen could have pulled this together to move the story along and vastly improved it by doing so. In addition, Kindle books in the $10 range need to be very, very good because there are many superior books which cost far less. For those who wonder why so many strong reviews, I speculate it is due to the Christian content. I like that aspect but feel that the writing quality is what should be reviewed. Christian themes seem to get a pass which causes them to allow weaker calibre books in that genre which is unnecessary and unfortunate.