Queenie's Whim, Volume 1 (of 3): A Novel

Queenie Marriott is nineteen years old, and she's just taken the only position available to her: governess to her own little sister Emmie at Granite Lodge, a grim boarding school run by the terrifying Miss Titheridge. The sisters are alone in the world, their father dead, their mother absent, and they're too poor for anything but this desperate arrangement. Queenie must watch daily as her beloved Emmie suffers under the school's cruel regime, her health and spirit diminishing behind stone walls that seem designed to crush the life out of young girls. When Queenie realizes she cannot simply endure any longer, she makes a daring choice: she will seek out their estranged uncle, Mr. Calcott, a man their family has good reason to fear. Her act of defiance sets her on a path that will test everything she has: her courage, her love for Emmie, and her willingness to challenge the society that has offered them nothing but hardship. Rosa Nouchette Carey writes with quiet power and deep emotional resonance, capturing the particular vulnerability of women in the Victorian age who had no resources but their own determination.