The premise of the story is interesting: two poor young women dress as men to obtain employment. Overflowing orphanages and workhouses were a sad and brutal reality of the 19th Century. Their way of overcoming adversity is commendable. However, it is hard to imagine successfully pulling off this ruse for a year.

Henny and Lottie's friendship is sweet and enduring. Jack and Henny's reunion and subsequent romance is touching and inspiring. It is unusual for servants and gentry to mingle, let alone marry. Therefore, it was nice to see the invisible line crossed twice.

There are minimal grammatical errors in this book; however, I found the writing to be rather unsophisticated. There's lots of telling involved. Many times I'd rather draw my own conclusions. I've previously read Ms. Stansfield's "The Lady of Astoria Abbey" and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, I plan on reading more of this author's work.

I love Anita Stansfields books! This one had a great plot and was fun to read, but it dragged a bit. It just seemed to take a long time for anything exciting to happen. I think it would be great if it was about half the length, but I still enjoyed reading it.