Summerset Abbey

T. J. Brown

Jan 2013 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society in this stunning series starter that fans of Downton Abbey will love.


Rowena Buxton

Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle’s guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the “underclass” in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic “rebels,” Rowena must decide where her true passions—and loyalties—lie.

Victoria Buxton

Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret—Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever...

Prudence Tate

Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess’s daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society—as lady’s maid to her beloved “sisters.” But Pru doesn’t belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.

Ratings and reviews

I have read all three of these books. The description of this book sites how "...fans of Downton Abbey will love this book" but it is not the case with this reader. I like Downton Abbey but that wasn't the reason I started reading this and the following books. The writing is so bland and the stories tedious. The 3 female leads are described as very, very close; two sisters and one daughter of the nanny/governess who grows up with the sisters so is treated like a third sister. But you never believe their "closeness" and love of each other because their lifestyles are separated from the very beginning of the first book. The author continues to reflect on how much they love each other and how they'd do anything for each other, but you have to take her word for it because they treat each other, throughout all three books, horribly. Even in the very end, there's no real feeling that they care too much for each other. In fact throughout all three books, they're rarely in each other's company. I stayed with this series only because I figured that the author was putting the reader through so much angst, drama, turmoil and one awful, depressing incident after another, that in the end I'd get major pay off. Not so much. No one gets their just desserts, all of the characters who deserve a good telling off get off scot-free. And if that wasn't bad enough, the story just sort of ends. I got no closure, no pay-off, no satisfaction. And poor Prudence (spoiler), who has a horrible existence at the hands of her Uncle and Aunt and with no help from the sisters who supposedly love her, doesn't get any reward for having endured her hardship. There's one shining moment when an aristocrat who falls in love with her and may take her away from it all, but instead she hastily marries a footman who: takes her away to live in a small flat where she has to clean, wash, cook and toil, all the things she's never had to do and doesn't know how to; he starts going to veterinary school, ends up volunteering when the war breaks out, comes back with one leg, all while Prudence has a baby and has to make ends meet on her own. That's it! After all of it the reader is expected to believe that she's happy with her lot in life and ends up falling in love with her one-legged veterinary student husband (because she didn't love him when she married him). Just...so disappointing.

About the author

T.J. Brown begins a sweeping trilogy set in Edwardian England with Summerset Abbey, her historical fiction debut. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit the author at TJBrownBooks.com.