I loved reading this book! The beginning could be misleading from the actual story. It started off in Dartmoor Coast, 1873 outside of the Orphanage Rosalyn was leaving to start her life as a maid. The author then introduced her sister’s Car and Julia, Rosalyn being the oldest. One may begin to assume the story could be about the sisters and their struggles that brought them to the Orphanage but, the book included much MORE than I could handle. Time skipped into her escape from her employer. I immediately was drawn into the story; many questions were popping into my head. So the story is about the eldest sister? Why is she running? I loved the time jump. It began to get more interesting very quickly! As she began to escape, it started Nate’s story. What I found most that I loved about reading this story, how Jennifer included the presence of God. In every aspect of this story, God was there, and he was beautiful, understanding, and forgiving. Despite the trouble, she faced while in London, God indeed provide and she found herself in the home of Nate Moran himself as well as his family. Through God’s work, Rosalyn found work as a dresser in a Theatre where she found her dream career. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like in this book. The exciting parts ended tastefully in this story, Nate’s peace with his past, Rosalyn clears up her predicament, because of His guidance. I also enjoyed how the women were described as respectable, innocent,  women. Despite the circumstances, life has provided because of the grace of God all was healed, and life was prosperous. Nate and Rosalyn’s relationship grew into an extraordinary one. Jennifer did wonderfully allow their relationship to grow slowly instead of an instant starstruck kind of love. Don’t get me wrong, attraction and feelings were there but, it evolved over time rather than a typical romance novel that happens instantaneously. Nate presented himself in Rosalyn’s life as a knight in shining armor trying to protect her from the rough streets of London. Despite some setbacks and finally ending at the home of Nate Moran thanks to his joyous Godly family their relationship blooms. Rosalyn innocence made it difficult to understand her feelings for Nate. And Nate’s past heartbreak made it hard for him to accept a new woman in his life. Through their moments together as they walked home, at the theater, and the little ways Nate shows his love for Rosalyn it was throw music where she was able to see his soul. From then on she knew she was in love with the Celtic soldier. The suspense built up to their first kiss on the last two pages of the book was FANTASTIC! It was what a noble, respectable gentleman and lady would act. It was refreshing to read a romance filled with the promise of forever without the explicit descriptions of anything happening more than simple conversation and admiration. WELL DONE MAAM!

I love good historical fiction novel, especially when it is a clean Christian version of it.  

This book is a prime example of this.  It touches on the good and bad in life, love and also deceit without getting into the gutter. The characters are believable and sweet without being overly so.  The look at theater life in Victorian England was really interesting to me and I learned things that I had not known before.  

I love how the book touched the lives of the amazing Gilbert & Sullivan and their operettas and wished the book came with a soundtrack so I found myself playing the music from them while enjoying the book.

I loved also the look at the amazing George Müller, his wife, and his orphanages. What amazing faith he had and the way he was able to share that strong faith with those in his charge.  I would have loved to have the opportunity to know the man and have my own life and faith be influenced by his amazing faith.  I have found myself doing more research on the man and his life, his children that he cared for and the faith that he instilled in them.  Wow, it makes me feel like a slacker reading about it.

The Captain's Daughter by Jennifer Delamere interweaves three historical events/people with George Whitfield's orphanages, production of Gilbert and Sullivan's plays, and medical college for women.  When her job as a lady's maid ends  abruptly due to perceived scandal, Rosalyn Bernay escapes to London and tries to eek out a living.  A series of fortunate circumstances and a chance encounter with a soldier changes her destiny and leads to a promising future.  Delamere's style whisks you away to the heart of Victorian London and draws you with lively prose and strong developed characters.  This was my first book by Delamere, and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel to this London Beginnings series.

Dartmoor Coast, England  -  1873

Rosalyn Bernay, 17, and her sister, Cara, 13, are finding comfort in a Rosalyn singing a lullaby their mother used to sing to them.  It is time for Rosalyn to leave the George Muller orphanage and make her own way in life as a maid to Mrs. Huffman in London.  Their bossy sister, Julia, will now be the one looking after Cara.  The girls went to the orphanage after their mother died and their father never returned from a sea voyage leaving them to wonder if he is dead or alive.

1879

Rosalyn is leaving a job where where she has worked for the last six years.  She is heading to the safety of her sister, Julia, who is now a nurse in Bristol.  When she arrives in London, a woman tricks her into staying in a brothel she calls a boarding house.  Fleeing, she finds herself at a theater where she gets a job as a dresser. 

Nate Moran and his former commander, Colonel Gwynn, have arrived at their destination after a long carriage ride.  The Colonel, although older than Nate, has decided he would like to return to India and would like to see Nate marry and bring his wife there too.  However, Nate has promised his brother that he will spend some time in London at the theater where he will take over his brother’s job until he heals after an accident.

Rosalyn and Nate become friends as they work together.  Soon, it is discovered that Rosalyn has a lovely singing voice and gets her chance to sing on stage.  As time comes for Nate to make a decision whether to journey to India, he must decide about a possible future he and Rosalyn may have together.

This story was OK but it simply did not have enough substance to draw me in and keep my interest.  I found it rather boring and simply not to my taste.  I am sure that other readers will like it.  Jennifer Delamere is a good author and I have enjoyed her books in the past.  Unfortunately, this one is not a favorite.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Jennifer Delamere. The Captain’s Daughter. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2017.

When reading a new book, it’s always fun to discover a surprising detail in the plot or setting that truly sets the story apart from others.  These details can make or break a novel, or at least completely captivate the right reader, who shares the author’s fascination with that topic.

The Captain’s Daughter is the first novel in the London Beginnings series by Jennifer Delamere.  Rosalyn Bernay grew up in a British orphanage before becoming the companion of a wealthy woman.  However, Rosalyn must flee her situation when the woman’s new husband accuses her of stealing priceless family items.  Stranded in London without her luggage, Rosalyn fortunately lands a job at a theater featuring Gilbert and Sullivan’s most recent comic opera.  Along the way, she encounters Nate Moran, a wounded veteran who splits his time between his own job at a local stable and working backstage at the theater to maintain his injured brother’s position.  Nate insists that his time in London is only temporary, as he plans to return to his military career in India, once his own battle wounds heal.  Together, Nate and Rosalyn navigate the ever-dramatic life of the theater, even as they discover new possibilities for their lives and careers.

Ms. Delamere brings a new voice to Christian historical fiction, building on an ever-expanding number of recently-released historical novels set in Britain.  Fans of stories set in the Victorian era will be thrilled to read this tale of life in Gilbert and Sullivan’s theater.

Overall, I quite enjoyed reading The Captain’s Daughter.  In general, Ms. Delamere develops a plotline that feels surprisingly different from many other recent historical novels set in Britain.  Her focus on Gilbert and Sullivan’s theater and the behind-the-scenes moments featuring their productions are a true highlight of this work.  Additionally, readers looking for pleasant Christian historical fiction will find that many of the characters remain true to the nature of the genre, although they may not be overly complex and developed.  Without providing any spoilers, I would have liked to see a stronger ending to the novel, as it felt somewhat truncated and underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of the story.  As this is the first novel in the London Beginnings series, I am curious to see how Ms. Delamere continues this set of novels and which characters she chooses to develop further.

Fans of Christian historical fiction works set in Victorian Britain may find The Captain’s Daughter to be well worth reading.  Additionally, readers with an interest in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas may find particular enjoyment in this novel.  

Special thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for the advanced copy of The Captain’s Daughter!

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Bethany House Publishing.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

I am of two minds regarding this book.  On the one hand, there were many aspects of this book that were delightful, especially the winsome nature of its heroine, Rosalyn Bernay, and the way that she finds a place for herself within the world of Gilbert & Sullivan after having been raised as an orphan [1] in a Christian orphanage.  That said, there were many parts of this book that were absolutely infuriating, including the way that the author glosses over the problem of abortion, presents Gilbert & Sullivan as Christians and not as fairly hypocritical people [2], and has an infuriating and entirely unnecessary love triangle where the author goes to considerable lengths to make the heroine mousy enough to accept the attention of two very different men and to unnecessarily and excessively complicate what would already be a difficult courtship between her and the appealing Nate Moran.  Someone needs to tell writers of contemporary romances that love triangles are not necessary elements in order to keep up the intrigue of a relationship.  Sometimes, as in this case, it merely makes some characters less appealing without making the novel as a whole more interesting.

Without giving away too many spoilers, this novel is filled with impossible amounts of divine providence.  For example, we begin the novel with some looks at the heroine and her two younger sisters as they face life as orphans before we see the heroine on the run from a lascivious employer and trapped in London after being taken in by the madam of a whorehouse after a meet cute (!?) at the train station with the hero.  By the time the two meet again at the Savoy Theater where Rosalyn finds a job as a dresser while Nate fills in for his injured brother, it is fairly obvious that the novel is going to play up divine providence in order to explain ridiculous coincidence.  Then, after signposting the romance obviously enough for me to see it loud and clear, the author spends a great deal of time exploring the seedier side of the theater and building up Tony as a rival to Nate in fairly cliched fashion.  The novel as a whole features a great deal of humor, a strong concern for justice and truth, and plenty of witty conversations.

Overall, my impression of this novel is somewhat mixed.  It appears as if the author spent much of her energy building together a few of her favorite aspects of late Victorian English life, such as the orphanage the heroine grew up in as well as the world of Gilbert and Sullivan and the larger-than-life personalities that inhabited that stage.  Having created that world and an appealing hero and heroine, the author made the aspects of divine providence too glaring and copied too many tropes of contemporary romance, and added too many subplots--like the heroine's younger sister Julia and her desire to be a medical missionary to Africa and a failed quest to recover a lost watch that is never resolved.  Ultimately this is a novel that can certainly be enjoyed, but it is also not special enough to rise above the general body of historical romances that wrestle with the world of faith and culture.  It is the sort of book I was happy enough to read for a couple of hours for free, and the sort of book I would not be upset if someone gave me as a present, but not the sort of book I would go out of my way to read at all.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/03/16/book-review-treasured-grace/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/04/14/audiobook-review-like-the-willow-tree/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015/08/21/book-review-anne-of-green-gables-my-daughter-me/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014/10/21/book-review-keepers-of-the-covenant/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013/09/03/book-review-every-waking-moment/

[2] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014/08/15/the-lost-chord/

I've really been feeling a desire to read more Christian fiction lately, and I haven't been disappointed in the ones that I've chosen to read. The Captain's Daughter was no exception. This book has so many aspects that I love: Victorian England, morals and a message, plus a love story. Yet The Captain's Daughter was a good bit different than I expected it to be. Yes it takes place in Victorian England, but the majority of the plot takes place in the theater which isn't a setting that I often read about from this time period. At first I wasn't sold, but as the story went on, I became more and more interested in how the theater played into the plot. Yes this story has morals and a message, but this book shows the darker side of London's city life as well as some shady characters that aren't shy about branching out from the cultural norms to satisfy their personal desires. Yes this story has a love story, and well...I guess there's not really a but for that piece, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Rosalyn was easy to like. She grew up with her sisters in an orphanage, but again where you'd think "oh no, not an orphanage, that must have been a horrible experience." Surely the loss of her parents was the horrible experience. The orphanage, however, was a blessing. Rosalyn went into a service position at the age of seventeen unlike most novels from this time period I've read that feature ladies that come from "a good name." Her journey to London ending up as a dresser for a theater company was filled with one misfortune after another. As I mentioned earlier, The Captain's Daughter doesn't shy away from the dark places and people, and Rosalyn seems to run into just about every kind of person who would take advantage of her. And Rosalyn is quite naive, however, she manages to navigate these situations even if there were times I thought she could have opened her eyes a little more.

Nate is honorable in just about every way. He's exactly what you would hope to find in a good man. He was in the army for seven years, and due to a hand injury is now only in the reserves. Yet he intends to return to service in hopes to atone for a mistake he made. He hasn't shared the whole story with any of his family so no one really understand his desire to return. In the meantime, Nate is working two jobs. He works at the stables during the day, but then he's temporarily working his brother's job as a stagehand for the theater so that Patrick doesn't lose his position while he heals from a broken leg. And it isn't just Nate. His whole family is noble. They seek to help others as often as they can. They have a few boarders living in their home. Nate does work for the parsonage and his mother and sisters work with a ladies' home.

I appreciated that the Christian aspects felt genuine and not forced at all. The Captain's Daughter might have had some shady characters, but there were plenty of heartfelt characters just trying to do the right thing. I loved the mix. And I always appreciate a story that uses Christ as a moral compass without feeling like it is preaching to the reader.

Favorite quotes: 
-"Don't be so quick to give up what God has clearly provided."

-"Grab onto the opportunities that open to you."

-How ironic that he could wish for her to be happy and yet be so pained to see it.

-"But that still doesn't absolve me for what happened." "Perhaps not. But then, absolution doesn't come through what we can do, does it? It comes from another source. One greater than ourselves."

The Captain's Daughter was a great choice for me considering I've been in a bit of a reading slump. It pulled me in quickly, but beyond that, I didn't want to put The Captain's Daughter down. I liked how this book had everything I expected but done in a way that caught me off guard. The Captain's Daughter gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read The Captain's Daughter? What did you think? Let me know!

The Captain's Daughter

by Jennifer Delamere

Bethany House

Bethany House Publishers
Christian

Pub Date 06 Jun 2017 

I am reviewing a copy of The Captain's Daughter through the publisher and Netgalley:

Rosalyn had left the Orphanage to begin her new life as an adult, she had understood she would face hard times but nothing like what she faced now.  In October 1879 Rosalyn decides to get on a train and head to build a new life for herself in London.

Rosalyn and her sisters grew up in an Orphanage in Bristol, an Orphanage ran by a kind, Christian man, who through prayer was able to provide for the hundreds of children in the Orphanage adequately.

A women named Jessie allows Rosalyn to stay with her when she arrives in London, having fled her previous employer after falsely being accused of theft.

Will Rosalyn be able to clear her name?

Will she be able to build a good life for herself and her sisters.

Find out in The Captains Daughter five out of five stars.

Happy Reading.

"The Captain's Daughter" is a Christian romance set in 1879 in London. The story took place at the London theater playing the Gilbert and Sullivan show, "H.M.S. Pinafore." The author worked in historical details about Gilbert and Sullivan and about what working at this theater was like. Rosalyn also grew up in the orphanage run by George Muller, so references were made to how that orphanage was run.

The main characters were likable. Nate learned to forgive and let go of the past so he could move on. Rosalyn was sweet and resourceful but came across as extremely naive and trusting. Her former employer's husband made sexual advances toward her, and subsequent events should have made it abundantly clear to her that men were sexually interested in her. Yet when she's warned away from a charming man, she thinks, "surely he doesn't think of me that way" rather than being wary or asking for more information as I would have expected. She received excellent advice about several things from people she trusted yet usually didn't follow it. This was partly so we could clearly see how God was protecting and providing for her despite her choices.

There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel, especially to Gilbert and Sullivan fans.

I thought this was a good book.  It was a light read and an interesting look at the theater in Victorian England.  I also thought that the characters were realistic and likable.  I know it was one in a series, but I wish they would have had an epilogue.

My first Jennifer Delamere book is The Captain's Daughter detailing the life of Rosalyn Bernay after she left the orphanage when she reached the age of seventeen.  She became a lady's companion and had to leave the post because the lady's new husband was trying to compromise her. 

She ran away and through a series of misfortune ends up in London and in a brothel.  She found out where she was and left in the dead of night. 

Nate was a man in the "colours" or in the Army and was awaiting medical clearance to go back to his posting, but in the meantime, he took a job mucking out stalls and working in the theater where he met Rosalyn for the second time. 

As I read this book, I found it a rather dark read, not quite my taste, but that doesn't mean it's not a good book.  The writing is high quality and contains enough action to move the plot along nicely.  It's not that my expectations were not met, but that my tastes run in another direction.   Four stars. 

My thanks to Bethany House for allowing me to read and review this book.

A lovely look into 1880s London and its theatre district! I love how Delamere brings this era to life and includes an early run of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. The focus on the backstage world of the Opera Comique and the stagehands, dressers, etc., is fascinating. Rosalyn is delightful, and Nate's urge to protect her is charming. Can't wait to read London Beginnings #2!

I absolutely loved this book! The cover was enough to intrigue me and it did not disappoint!  Filled with memorable characters that couldn't help but delight this book was a true delight. I loved the research and detail that the author put into the book,you could really tell!

The Captain's Daughter by Jennifer Delamere captured my imagination with its cover design and the fact that it occurs in London. London. The city of my dreams. But unfortunately, I really didn't like this novel. The first chapter has three sisters standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I believe this was Delamere's way of clearing her throat and giving us backstory to the three sisters without officially telling us what we needed to know in an information dump. From there, I follow Rosalyn as she almost gets sold into prostitution before earning a job at the local theater. As a character, I found her quite shallow, and I didn't empathize with her at all. As for Nate, he had some redeeming qualities, but I still didn't find him to be the hero I wanted him to be. I wanted so much more depth to each character. 

As for the pace of the novel, it moved really slow. There were moments I put the novel down and went to another book, read it completely, and came back to this one. Really didn't capture my attention. I dragged myself to finish the novel. This predictable and unoriginal story just couldn't get me excited about the plot. As a final note, The Captain's Daughter appeared to be an interesting story, but it has been written before with lackluster characters and a pace that didn't move fast enough for me. I would have a hard time recommending this story. But . . .  this is my humble opinion, so others can completely disagree with mine. 

I received a complimentary copy of The Captain's Daughter by Jennifer Delamere from Bethany House Publishing, and the opinions stated are all my own.