Once again I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy novel that I simply HAD TO sit down and read right away. I was not disappointed. I have reviewed other books where the Christian element is very subtle and sneaks up on you and The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen is no exception. Set in one of my favourite eras (Regency) there are quite a few interesting themes in this one… faith, grief, romance… the common practice in that time of wreck scavenging and the impact it has on the community, the question of the heir and his place in the family, of illness impacting that. 

We start the book with the tutor’s daughter herself, Emma Smallwood and her widower father. They lost her mother a few years before and were facing the end of their boys only boarding school. With her faith in God damaged and her father’s heart heavy they attempt to get more students into their school. Instead they are offered a position as private tutors in the home of a family who once sent two of their sons to their school and there the mystery, romance and self growth begins. 

The family they join is not a happy one, with multiple sons, a female ward, a rather absentminded seeming father and his lady wife. The mother of two, step mother to more. There are secrets and mysteries and the feel of a gothic novel worth of mystery. Is there a ghost? Are they in danger? Emma wonders herself at times if she is facing a Gothic novel or a petulant boy. 

I love that the author of this story based her plot elements on documents from that time period. Jane Austen’s family paralleled the circumstances in the book to a point and two people mentioned in the story were real. Again I am not going to reveal more than that to leave the plot twists unspoiled. If you are a fan of Christian elements in your Regency romances with a strong female lead and lots of interesting story points this is a definite must read! 

The Tutor’s Daughter