Members Get 10% Off and Earn Rewards Find Out More

Manor of Secrets

Add to Wishlist

Manor of Secrets

eBook

$10.99

eBook
$10.99

Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.

WANT A NOOK? Explore Now

Buy As Gift

Related collections and offers

LEND ME^® See Details

Overview

The year is 1911. And at The Manor, nothing is as it seems . . .

Lady Charlotte Edmonds: Beautiful, wealthy, and sheltered, Charlotte feels suffocated by the strictures of upper-crust society. She longs to see the world beyond The Manor, to seek out high adventure. And most of all, romance. Janie Seward: Fiery, hardworking, and clever, Janie knows she can be more than just a kitchen maid. But she isn't sure she possesses the courage -- or the means -- to break free and follow her passions. Both Charlotte and Janie are ready for change. As their paths overlap in the gilded hallways and dark corridors of The Manor, rules are broken and secrets are revealed. Secrets that will alter the course of their lives. . . forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545567602
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/28/2014
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Katherine Longshore is a former costume designer, coffee house barista and preschool teacher who has finally found her calling writing historical fiction for teens. She is the author of GILT, TARNISH, and BRAZEN, a series of novels set in the court of Henry VIII published by Viking. After five years exploring castles and country manors in England, she now lives in California with three British citizens and one expatriate dog. Visit her online at www.katherinelongshore.com.

Read an Excerpt

From MANOR OF SECRETS"Who is that?" Fran asked suddenly.Charlotte craned her neck. All she saw were neighbors. Her mother's friends."Who is who?" she asked."No, you little owl." Fran laughed. She pointed past the party, to where the lawn met the trees. "Her."The girl definitely wasn't a party guest. Gray cotton dress, thick black stockings, and sensible black shoes. Her brown hair in its bun turned reddish in the sunlight. She glanced back over her shoulder quickly, giving Charlotte a split-second view of her face, then walked away, her stride purposeful."The kitchen maid?""Why isn't she in the kitchen?" Charlotte wasn't sure she cared. "Getting more cress for the sandwiches?"Fran turned to face her. "That is not where the gardens are. That is the way to the rockery and the lake."Fran stood with her arms akimbo, her gloved fists resting on the minty green skirts of her day dress. Demanding an answer.Charlotte could only shrug. "You don't even care that one of your staff members is wandering off in the middle of a party?" Fran asked. "She should be in the kitchen. That girl is definitely up to something."Charlotte imagined the kitchen maid meeting a boy in the forest, trading locks of hair and kisses. Or perhaps she was selling secrets to a spy.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

6 YA Novels to Help You Cope with the End of Downton Abbey

Hey there, how are you holding up? I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks without Downton Abbey, but I promise we’re going to make it through. I know that a future without the Crawleys looks bleak, but there’s more to life than television about the English aristocracy: BOOKS about the English aristocracy! To help you move […]

03/01/2014
Gr 7 Up—A divisive wall exists between the upstairs and downstairs quarters of the English Manor where Lady Charlotte Edmonds, 16, and kitchen servant Janie Seward reside. Charlotte yearns for an adventure beyond the stringent structure of upper-crust society, while her new friend Janie seems content to remain a cook. Neither suspects the secrets that lurk within the manor when Charlotte's mysterious Aunt Beatrice comes to visit. Reminiscent of the British television series Upstairs Downstairs, the plot starts at a leisurely pace, providing a detailed portrait of the daily mechanisms of 19th-century manor life and how both classes coexist. Longshore captures the tension expressed by Charlotte and Janie in their efforts to cope with limitations and unfulfilled dreams. She compares the harsh, never-ending workday of one paired with the other's tediously predictable station in life. The novel's dominant theme emerges midway through when hidden truths appear beneath masklike facades. Andrew Broadhurst, Charlotte's intended, is not as dull as he first seems, nor is Lawrence, the footman, truly worth Charlotte's lifelong devotion. Despite a predictably happy ending, the message is clear: people are far more complex than they appear on the surface, no matter their class or station in life. This is a light historical romance.—Etta Anton, Yeshiva of Central Queens, NY

School Library Journal

12/02/2013
Longshore (Gilt; Tarnish) will delight fans of British period pieces à la Downton Abbey as she introduces 16-year-old Lady Charlotte Edmonds and Janie Seward, a kitchen maid, both of whom yearn to throw caution to the wind. Charlotte's mother, Lady Diane, plans for her to marry Lord Andrew Broadhurst, the dull but stable heir to an earldom, who will assure that Charlotte's dreams are confined to her imagination. After living in extreme poverty with her relatives, Janie is reunited with her mother in the manor's kitchen. While Janie loves to cook, she feels displaced, and house rules forbid her to act on her growing affection for a childhood friend. Charlotte's loneliness and a burgeoning interest in a dashing new footman draw her downstairs, where she and Janie form a clandestine partnership to uncover the meaning behind an unexpected visitor's arrival. Drama between servants, an approaching shooting party and ball, and the interlacing of social classes thicken the plot. Longshore excels at switching between the girls' perspectives as she intimately explores two richly detailed worlds. Ages 12–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2013-10-23
Upstairs, Lady Charlotte pines for a more adventurous, purposeful life, while downstairs, kitchen maid Janie doesn't allow herself to consider any possibilities other than servitude. The Manor is home to the Edmondses and all of the servants they require. Charlotte, age 16, understands that her mother, the icy Lady Diane wants her to marry dull Lord Andrew, but it's a handsome footman who catches her eye and kisses her. She also forges a friendship with maid Janie, drawn to her adventurousness as well as her practical skills, though the admiration is not mutual. Alternating chapters reflect the two girls' perspectives. The arrival of Charlotte's cosmopolitan aunt, the Lady Beatrice, creates new questions in Charlotte's mind about societal expectations and also about the mysterious coolness between Beatrice and Diane. References to corsets, airplanes, Worth gowns and "suffragettes" place the tale around 1910, as Old World values were beginning to shift. Longshore works in interesting details about period food and clothing, but characters' speech and behavior often seem off, as, for instance, when servants riff on Shakespeare and the oh-so-proper Lady Diane refers to a "shiner." The choppy prose style relies heavily on sentence fragments: "This was a test. Of her fortitude. But also of her ability to disregard the wall that separated mistress from servant." Pitched for Downton Abbey fans but lacking both the style and the accuracy. (Historical romance. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews