The Tutor's Daughter
By: Julie Klassen / Narrated By: Elizabeth Jasicki
Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
A different tone than I’m used to from Ms. Klassen but beguiling nonetheless
Emma Smallwood is coming up on spinsterhood, and the school she and her father run is coming up on seeing its very last pupil leaving. With bills piling up, there’s not much to be done.
Enter a missive from a gentleman who sent his two eldest boys to their little academy. He’s offered Emma’s father a position to teach his two youngest sons, twin boys from his current wife, in his home (On a windswept cliff in the wilds of Cornwall—oooooh, atmosphere!). Dunno what it’ll be like, the boys are rumored to be kinda wild and if the eldest boys are anything to go by, that could get rough.
But there are really no options, and Emma’s father feels he’s been flailing in a most depressing manner since the death of his wife, Emma’s mother. So it’s off to the mysterious home for Emma and her father.
From the beginning, they are felt to be less than welcome. And soon, strange things begin happening. There’s the sensation of being watched, somebody keeps creeping into Emma’s room at night, and the pianoforte seems to play itself—every time Emma goes to see who’s playing, the room is quite empty. Also, the eldest of the brothers, Henry, is quite the enigma. He tormented Emma when she was just a girl, but now he seems to be the most stolid of the bunch in the cold household. Where once she turned to Henry’s younger brother, now she turns to Henry as the most reliable.
But there are dangers afoot, and soon threats abound.
This is kinda something that’s new to me from author Julie Klassen. I’m used to her character studies and women friendships, but I’d only be going by The Ivy Hill series. Apparently stories of secrets and intrigue are quite common fare for her, and I’m not usually into Regency intrigue, but I did like that this, The Tutor’s Daughter, relied heavily upon her trademark character development. There’s her usual Christian bent, sure sure, in this one too, and at times the preaching got a bit heavier handed than it did in The Ivy Hill series (Henry is quite the believer, and he seems to take it as his due to encourage prayer and Christianity and a relationship with God in all and sundry), but overall I didn’t find this irritating as that’s just who Henry is. This Klassen character lives his Fatih, yes, but he also talks it… a lot. I found it a biiiiiit odd in that he’s written initially as quite the hellish boy, but I s’pose people change.
There are plenty of things going on at the same time here, lots of characters to keep track of, and there are many ominous happenings. We see characters who seem benign only to suddenly act out of character… or was it their true character to begin with, cleverly concealed beneath well-meaning and friendly exteriors. There are also things like smugglers, and shipwrecks, and one never knows which character will be acting with pure motives, and which character will be holding back and/or acting duplicitously. And through it all, the relationship between Emma and Henry evolves to where we start seeing Henry as quite the Hero, saving Emma time and time again, but also in acting for the best purposes for his struggling family as well.
Elizabeth Jasicki turns in her usual fine performance. Her Heroes are never swoon-worthy but are credible as struggling men who are doing the best they can as they juggle their flaws with their better intentions. And tho’ I thought Emma turned into a screechy and paranoid person at times, Heck! She had every good reason in the world to do so as, well, stuff just kept happening to her! It got to be so much, especially considering the characters of the family members, that I scratched my head a bit about the Happily Ever After: How on earth could she so blithely ally herself with individuals who proved they could have only harmful intentions towards her? Oh well, to each her own.
I did like Emma’s aunt and how her story wound up. Nothing like happy endings all around, and I thought the Come Together scene at the end was satisfying and well done.
So not my usual Klassen Romance Only fare. This time there was a solid Who’s Doing It to be had. Plus things got a bit Gothic there for a while with shipwrecks and sabotage and hidden people coming to light, unknown quantities who might be acting through madness.
And I dunno, it’s turning out that I’m enjoying a bit of Gothic in my stories.
Audible’s Escape package has gone Bye-Bye, but I’m glad I got at least one Julie Klassen in there at the end. So many others that I never got around to, my loss. But this little bit o’ Gothic at the end?
Who knows? The Mysteries of Udolpho anyone?
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