This post may contain affiliate links. These don’t cost you anything extra, but I do make a small commission if you click and/or make a purchase through them. For the full disclosure, click here. Thank you for your support!
In order to be fully transparent with my community, I was not given a copy of this book, money, or any other good or service in exchange for my review. My review is my own honest opinions.
Title: The Other Daughter
Author: Lauren Willig
Original Publication Date: July 21, 2015
Original Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
4/5 Stars
I would primarily categorize this book as Historical Fiction but could also easily be categorized as Romance. If you love traveling back in time to the roaring twenties and going undercover with characters, all complete with a budding romance, this book is for you. Primarily written for young adults, women in particular, though an older audience could still enjoy it. The only content warning I would give is that there are some scenes with alcohol and drunkenness, to be wary if you don’t like those kinds of scenes.
The cover design is by Danielle Christopher. Photo credits are London: Tony Watson/Arcangel Images and Woman: Ruta Production/Shutterstock.
The art deco design of the title overlaying the blue 1920s dress made it pop off the shelf for me. Of course, I love a beautiful dress on a cover, but the title itself was tantalizing, who is the other daughter? I always appreciate the synopsis right on the back cover for me to easily read and decide that I want it. I also appreciate the little bit of recognizable London in the background that puts the possible reader right in the city the bulk of the story is based in.
Experience
I inherited The Other Daughter from my late- grandmother. She had hundreds of books, and the story intrigued me, so I added it to the pile of books I already had picked out from her shelves. This was the first book I had read by Lauren Willig, she was previously unknown to me.
I am somewhat of a mood/seasonal reader, so reading this book in the early fall of 2021 felt just right for the mood of the book. Some of the early part was emotionally challenging to get through. Willig does an excellent job of making sure the reader feels the full scope of the love and loss Rachel is enduring, and the utter confusion she has upon discovering her mother’s secret.
The feelings only deepen as you go through the journey of discovery with her; the jealousy toward her half-sister that turns to pity, the joy and anger for her long-lost father, the disdain for the woman whom she sees as the reason her family was torn apart, and the appeal of the seemingly easy lifestyle of those she has infiltrated, while she simultaneously detests them all.
It’s filled with so many emotions!!
Synopsis
In 1927 Rachel Woodley receives notice in France that her mother has fallen ill. Abandoning her post as governess, she rushes to her childhood home in England to be at her side only to be met by her best friend to console her in her grief. While gathering up her mother’s affects, she discovers a news clipping with a photo of a man who looks remarkably like her late- father. Next to him stands his daughter blue-eyed, blonde, and pale skinned, the complete opposite of Rachel’s dark complexion and features.
With the help of her introverted cousin and Mr. Montfort, who has the money and societal know-all, Rachel embarks on a mission to reunite with her dearly missed father and meet the only family she now has left. But can a girl of lowly born status, who was raised to be hard working and independent, be able to fit into the role of a high-society woman? Can she compete with her half-sister not just for her father’s love, but the love of the man who can give only one of them anything they desire?
Review
The story is narrated in third person limited perspective, only following Rachel’s thoughts and interactions with others, as she makes her way through the London aristocracy. At the beginning we are introduced to the characters who helped to shape her into the young woman she is today; her deceased mother who loved to play piano, her best friend Alice, Alice’s father, Mr. Treadwell, who always treated them with kindness and respect, and her older cousin, David. Willig does not dive deeply into these characters, but she does not need to, only enough to let the reader understand the roles they played in regard to shaping Rachel.
Through her visit with Cousin David to get some more answers, we are introduced to Simon Montfort, a self-made societal outcast who surprisingly is Rachel’s key into London aristocracy. As many budding romances due, his character is introduced as being obnoxious and self-righteous. He uses Rachel’s predicament to further his own agendas, and while Rachel recognizes this, we are still left to wonder if there is something more that he is not saying. Which, of course, there is, but that does not take much to figure out. He is the most predictable character in the story, while trying to seem like the least predictable.
Once in London, we meet the high-society Londoners. Having to work her way up the hierarchy, Simon introduces Rachel, and us, to some old acquaintances, who love to party and rub elbows with all the right, and some of the wrong, type of people. Through them, we finally meet Rachel’s half-sister Olivia. She is quiet and demure, definitely raised with the principles of Victorian parents and doesn’t really belong in the party scene we first see her in. The striking differences between Rachel and Olivia add to the tension we feel between them.
We also meet Olivia’s, not so doting fiancé, along with her old friend Cece, and of course, her parents. All of these characters are really well filled out, they each have their own facades they don for the outside world, but Rachel gets a front row seat to the unmasking of them all. The life she believed they all lived was just a beautifully decorated cover for the dark secrets and pasts each of them keep.
Somehow the confrontation with her father, the Duke of Ardmore seems anti-climactic and yet had me crying as Rachel came to the realization that she had been missing him more than he had missed her and her mother. I think I just wanted it to be different, for them to have a happy ending together, even though Rachel ends up with the happy ending she truly deserves.
I would have loved to have had more of the intricacies of infiltrating the ranks of higher society. In some ways it seemed too easy, and I would have enjoyed learning more of the finer points that she would have needed to know to be successful in her mission. I know it is a delicate balance of having too many erroneous scenes amongst the bigger plot of the story, but I feel like it would be intriguing to the audience that enjoys learning about the time period they are reading in.
I really enjoyed the overall plot, and how well Willig did of connecting the characters. The stories between them were so genuine that you could really empathize with them. Those feelings easily cross time. You could take them and put them nearly anywhere in history. That is why they are so relatable, even if you’ve never been through something similar to them.
Comparison
For a period piece it was on par with others I have read. As a romance it was pretty predictable, though still enjoyable. This was really the first book I read following a main character that is surreptitious, making it feel quite different than other period stories I’ve read previously.
Similar Reads:
Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Recommendation
I would recommend The Other Daughter. If you are looking for an easy read, this should be the next book you pick up.
Thank You for Reading!
To keep up with Lauren Willig and her work you can find her on her website:
SHOP
