Davenport House is the first book in a family saga following the wealthy Davenports and their servants in 1915 America.Mary Davenport is a 22-year-old idealist who worries that the world in the Progressive Era is leaving her behind. She lives isolated in the Pennsylvania countryside with her affluent and secretive family. When her father dies suddenly, Mary becomes pained with grief and … and increasingly suspicious of those around her.
A humble servant girl has the chance of a lifetime to become a lady’s companion. Costly dresses, exquisite rooms, and fine dinners are pleasant distractions from what is really happening in the house.
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It didn’t offer enough to hold my attention
Writing style clumsy and stilted; unbearably read.
Was a book I couldn’t put down.
Easy read – part of a series – I have no interest in pursuing the series
Puzzling family dynamics.
Pretty simplistic. The only person that didn’t know “who dunnit” was the “heroin” of the story. Nice gal but not too smart.
Choppy writing style. Plot and characters needed to be more developed.
Love historical fiction. A comfortable read.
I thought is was interesting from a historical point of view. I was not familiar with this period—WWI. Some surprises and twists in the plot that I didn’t expect.
Great book for an easy read!
I read all the books in this series and recommend everyone of them
Amazing how all the characters were somehow all related
A great time period with believable characters and a well developed events. A totally enjoyable read.
Great read!
This book was boring , unrealistic and had a silly, simplistic plot. I didn’t finish it, was unable to get interested in it after about three or four chapters so I moved onto something else.
This was a very good story which continues as part of a series, but can be enjoyed as a single read also.
I like the book
The author tries to capture the world of old money aristocrats. If you ever go to Mystic, Connecticut and see the “summer cottages” of this segment of society, you realize most f us cannot even imagine living with such wealth. The author does a decent job, but there is much not touched on.
The story focuses on the daughter- overprotected, coddled and assumed to be without the ability to think for herself.There were many times I wondered if she would ever “wake up” and why she tolerated such treatment. However, many of us know a person like this; whether it’s a husband, mother or friend holding the reins. Needless to say, our heroine eventually starts to see things as they are and begins to take her life back.
Incredibly awesome and well written
Mildly entertaining, it is probably aimed at less mature readers than this 78 year old who has read a lot of fiction from this period. The grammatical errors were jarring to me, but probably won’t even be noticeable to younger readers.