Description
1907
Jennie Trent has just turned twelve years old.She has three loves in her life " her family at the Station House, deep in the Kent countryside; Applemere, the mysterious great house nearby, to which so many important visitors come; and Jack Colby, her father's porter.
Applemere guards its privacy fiercely, for the Fokingham family is closely connected to the royal family of Montevanya, a small but strategically important kingdom in the Balkans.
Anna Fokingham is Jennie's closest friend and is having to face an arranged marriage between herself and Prince Viktor.
The marriage has been arranged for political reasons, in an attempt appease the ever more aggressive nations of Germany and Austro-Hungary.
Anna is frightened about her future and asks her closest friend, Jennie, to accompany her on the trip to the Balkans.
Jennie soon finds herself caught between her love for her home and Jack and the beckoning exciting world beyond them -- a world that includes kings, princes and her own mysterious Aunt Eileen.
As it becomes apparent that Prince Viktor is equally uncertain about the arranged marriage with Anna, tensions fray when he begins to openly profess his love for Jennie.
When war breaks out in 1914, however, Jennie finds her own path through her dilemma -- a path that leads her to love through challenges that she must force herself to overcome.
Between pregnancies, runaways and betrayal, it would seem that the war reaches further than the frontlines…
Praise for Amy Myers
“… neatly links the past and the present to bring this intriguing story of beauty and betrayal to life.” --
Booklist ‘Myers presents all the ingredients for an enjoyable read' "
KirkusAmy Myers was born in Kent, where she still lives, and was the director of a London publisher before becoming a full-time writer. Myers is best known for her Marsh and Daughter mystery series and published her first mystery novel,
Murder in Pug's Parlor, in 1986. She has written under a number of different pseudonyms including Harriet Hudson, Laura Daniels and Alice Carr.