Wentworth Hall

By Abby Grahame

Anyone who loves Downton Abbey, will love Wentworth Hall.

Wentworth Hall is one of England's oldest estates and the Darlingtons are among the elite class of British society. But under all that wealth, there are secrets they do not want told.

18 year old Maggie and her mother have just returned from a year aboard where Lady Darlington has had baby boy, James. But he is not the only new addition to the house. They have also brought back Therese, their new French tutor, as well as welcomed the orphaned teenage twins, Teddy and Jessica, who have just lost their father aboard the Titanic. This adds to an already crowded house or Darlingtons and staff, all of whom have a penchant for gossiping about their employers.

As time passes, it becomes clear that Teddy and Jessica would rather be anywhere else and that Maggie is a different person then the one that left Wentworth. Her family's financial future rests with her finding the best husband and her parents are sure that is Teddy. When scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details suspiciously similar to the goings on of Wentworth Hall, the Darlingtons are determined to keep their secrets to themselves and the affairs (both private and public) in order. And the first order of business is finding the culprit. But where to start? Downstairs? Or Upstairs?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Jul 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857079176

Abby Grahame

Abby Grahame lives in upstate New York. Her interest in historical fiction and British period dramas inspired Wentworth Hall, her first novel.

Reviews for Wentworth Hall

[booksovertv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an entertaining, light, fluffy read. I enjoyed it. However, I wish that it didn't remind me sooo much of The Luxe Series. It was completely distracting at times and for me took away from the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Luxe series by Anna Goberson and/or are looking for a light entertaining read.

[mrsbakitch · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A story obviously written to appeal to those who love Downton Abbey. It was an entertaining read but certainly not a literary masterpiece.

[sunflower38_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was an entertaining, light, fluffy read. I enjoyed it. However, I wish that it didn't remind me sooo much of The Luxe Series. It was completely distracting at times and for me took away from the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Luxe series by Anna Goberson and/or are looking for a light entertaining read.

[bookaddictdiary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Whoever thought that the semi-soap opera-like lives of a family of Edwardian period British nobles would be so darn addicting? No one could have predicted the somewhat strange public obsession with the British TV show Downton Abbey, and it didn't take long for publishers and others to pick up on that obsession and start pumping out similar works to ride the latest trend. I've seen almost half a dozen other similar-themed books on tap for the next few years -and Wentworth Hall was the first one.In this Edward period drama, young Maggie Darlington has just returned from abroad as a grown woman -and ripe for marriage to a reputable man of good fortune. She returns to her family's ancestral home, Wentworth Hall, only to find the family's wealth dwindling and a wealthy heir living at the house -ready for the marrying. Yet, Maggie harbors a secret for the handsome groom named Michael, and the family's new French nanny Therese hides secrets of her own. And secrets never stay hidden for long.This book isn't very good. Let's just get that out of the way first. Wentworth Hall just isn't very good. It's poorly written, badly edited, is filled with holes, lacks historical detail and, especially closer to the end, kind of ridiculous. To me, it seemed like this book may have had some good ideas at its core, but was very rushed through the entire writing and editing process (especially the editing part) in order to get it out quickly, thus little attention was paid to things like setting, historical details and writing quality.Basically, this book steals many elements from Downton Abbey: Maggie is essentially an amalgamation of Mary and Sibel, the younger sister is much like Eleanor, the servants' politics and drama strangely echoes that of Downton. But, there were at least a few other elements added in that kept this book from becoming too much like Downton, like the wild family twists, the harsh and somewhat brutish Lord Darlington and the wildly entertaining passages from a mysterious satire of the family. Somewhere, in this strange combination of low writing quality, soap-opera-like ridiculous plot lines and the assumption that the reader can fill in all of the "blanks" because he/she has seen Downton Abbey, there was a strangely entertaining and addictive book. Yes, you heard me: Despite all of the issues, I read this very short book from cover-to-cover and still found a few things that made it worthwhile. The secrets, though way too out there, are still incredibly compelling and fun, though of course frothy and absurd. This may be worth a quick summer vacation read if you enjoy Downton Abbey, are suffering from withdrawal, and just want something that's easy. Just be warned -don't expect incredibly quality.