At Somerton: Cinders & Sapphires

by Leila Rasheed

Overview

One house, two worlds... Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies' maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can't help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada. For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada's beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family's honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name—but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept. Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton. "A thoroughly satisfying romp for Downton Abbey fans…Breathless readers will look forward to the next sudsy chapter in this planned series." --Kirkus Reviews "Readers who always wondered how the heroines of Jane Austen's novels would have fared in a world careening towards modernity need not look any further." -- VOYA

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368078085
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Series:	At Somerton
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	732,339
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Leila Rasheed is a British writer based in Birmingham, UK. She is the author of many children’s books, most recently Empire's End (Scholastic, 2020). She grew up in Libya and has lived in Belgium and Italy. She has a passion for history and loves learning about how people lived in the past. As a teenager in England she enjoyed visiting stately homes, which helped inspire Somerton. She also runs a mentoring scheme for England-based children’s writers of colour, called Megaphone: www.megaphonewrite.com.

Editorial Reviews

In the spring of 1910, Lady Ava Averley sails from colonial India to her family’s English estate at Somerton Court. On board, she meets a cute but common Indian boy, Ravi Sundaresan, and they steal a clandestine kiss. Ada’s first season is approaching, but she dreams of attending Oxford, at a time when the higher education of women is frowned upon. At Somerton, Ada’s father remarries, and Ada contends with her new stepfamily, including a mean stepmother and rival stepsister. She also has a new, 16-year-old maid, Rose, a girl with her own secrets as well as aspirations that go beyond her current station. British author Rasheed brings a dizzying number of characters and subplots together skillfully in this first book in the At Somerton series, mixing standard upstairs/downstairs fare with clashes involving sexuality, scandal, love triangles, and murder. Scheming and secrets drive a plot with largely shallow players (Ada’s other love interest, Lord Fintan, is an exception), but fans of historical romances like the Luxe series and shows like Downton Abbey will look forward to the next book. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A thoroughly satisfying romp for Downton Abbey fans. Lady Ada Averley, returning by steamboat to her British ancestral estate after a childhood in India, shares a furtive, passionate kiss with Ravi, an Indian revolutionary. At 16, Ada prefers books to ball gowns and dreads the byzantine formalities of the upcoming social season; she'd rather convince her father to let her attend Oxford than find a husband. But the family's name is imperiled by scandal, and Ada's loyalty demands that she play the game, even as Ravi dominates her thoughts. Ada's emerging social consciousness--she gamely struggles against the pervasive sexism, racism and classism of pre–World War I England--provides an intellectual backbone for what could easily have been just another high-society soap opera. Rasheed sidesteps sanctimony, however, by infusing the story with humor, vivid descriptions--a diamond hangs in a debutante's décolletage "as tempting as the fly on a fishing line"--and a surplus of intrigue above and below stairs, propelling the narrative toward the cliffhangers of the final pages. Breathless readers will look forward to the next sudsy chapter in this planned series. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews