A. M. Williamson (1869–1933)

I started out this book thinking it would be a 3-star novel. I got farther into it and thought, well...4 stars. Today I finished it and just had to go with 5 stars.
Evidently this married couple, the Williamsons, wrote a whole lot of books together around the turn of the 20th century. This is the only one I've read so far, but I don't think it'll be the last. Evidently they like to write books in which: A) Lots of traveling is done, preferably by automobile (because it was the latest, coolest show more thing) and B) Someone is in disguise.
Both of those qualifications are met in this book. Audrie, a young woman who has just taken up a post as music teacher, owes one of her students a favor for helping her get the job.
The student, a 19-year-old girl named Ellaline, is an orphan and has never seen or communicated much with her guardian, who is just returning from some type of military post in Asia. Ellaline is prejudiced against him and has decided to elope anyway, but her fiance can't come for her right away, so in the interim, she asks Audrie (who is 21) to pose as her and keep the guardian off the track.

Audrie is expecting the guardian to be a gruff, dragon-like old man, but instead she is surprised to meet a kind, fairly normal man who is a young-looking 40. His name is Sir Lionel Pendragon.

Sir Lionel is expecting his ward to be a carbon-copy of her flirtatious, undependable mother, and he is surprised to meet Audrie (whom, of course, he thinks is Ellaline). Audrie is sweet, intelligent, and interested in the same things he is. In fact, he almost immediately views her as a friend.

Sir Lionel's home has just been damaged by a fire, so while it is being repaired, he takes Audrie, along with his sister, on an automobile trip all around England. This is where the book turns into part travelogue. I didn't mind it, and in fact found some of it intensely interesting, but it did make the book a little long.
The book is in the form of letters, mostly from Audrie to her mother, and a few from Sir Lionel to his best friend. I really liked getting to see his side of things. He was an AWESOMELY, awesomely likable character. Both he and Audrie put plenty of description in their letters, and you can tell that they are totally in love with England and all of its medieval history, legends, architecture, people, everything. They both write about it pretty reverently, which is kind of enjoyable to one who has never been and probably never will be at any of those places.

Problems arise in the form of a young man who thinks he's in love with Audrie and also fancies himself a detective. He noses out Audrie's real identity and threatens to tell Sir Lionel if Audrie doesn't invite him along on the roadtrip, AND his aunt, who is scheming to get Sir Lionel to marry her. They are the irritating characters in the book, but don't do any lasting harm at all.

Sir Lionel and Audrie have PLENTY of lovely times together and quickly become genuine friends in spite of the machinations of the villains. It's great. Their travels and touring around England are really just one long spell of courtship, even though Sir Lionel is thinking, "But I'm so much older, and I'm her guardian, and she must think of me as elderly," and Audrie is thinking, "He will really hate me when he knows I've deceived him about Ellaline." The times they get to spend together are totally appropriate for a guardian-ward relationship, but also super sweet and innocent when viewed for what they really are--a courtship.
Seriously, these are a couple of great characters. I'm impressed. show less

Though the action is uneven, the descriptions of place just glow. The characters are alive and the phrasing is sometimes superb. I googled their route and some of their stops. What a tour! Glad I went along.

Two girls, Nell and Phyllis, find out that they have been left a small amount of money and a boat by an old family friend. The boat is in Holland. On the spur of the moment they decide to throw caution to the wind, ditch their routine, and take a long cruise around Holland on the new boat. Once they arrive, they meet up with Ronald, an agreeable young man who is under the impression that he has rented their boat. The mistake is rectified, but he still wants to have his cruise and had already show more started fitting the boat up with better furnishings, so they agree that if he can persuade his aunt to come and be chaperon, they will travel together.
At this point Nell's distant cousin, a Dutchman named Robert, shows up. He lacks a sense of humor and is pretty stubborn and traditional, so he looks on their plans with suspicion. He also starts to develop a soft spot for Phyllis.
Robert's friend is Rudolphe Brederode, a "tall, dark and handsome" (and mysterious) type. That is, he's mysterious for the first quarter of the book, but then the narration changes to his viewpoint. He manages to get himself hired as skipper for the boat because he's fallen in love with Nell, who won't give him the time of day.
Meanwhile, Ronald, the other passenger on the boat, is seeming to be left in the cold. He practically moved heaven and earth to manage travel arrangements and secure a chaperon, because he was convinced that he was going to fall in love with one or the other of the girls (but he could never decide which). Instead he finds himself popped into the "helpful older brother" role with both of them.
Plus he has on his hands the "aunt." Because his real aunt was not available, he had to throw himself on the mercy of the first stranger who would consent to his plan. He virtuously checks her references, but doesn't bother to find out exactly who she really is.
I started suspecting it a little over halfway through.
Anyway, fun book, but as with "Set in Silver," the travelogue bits sometimes got wordy, and I skimmed (although in general those bits were enjoyable enough and created a good atmosphere).
The only other issue was that the book is written from the standpoint of 4 different people, so with the first three, you get the beginning of their story, but the end of their story gets to be told by someone else. Not a completely satisfying structure. show less

Pretty engaging little story. Lys is poor but of impeccable family. The relatives she is living with want her to marry someone she despises, so she runs away. She ends up getting herself hired as a lady's maid to a pretty insufferable woman who is on a honeymoon trip with her kindly but henpecked husband. Lys' only worry is that the couple's other servant, a chauffeur, will take liberties and get too familiar with her, as she will appear to be a lone and friendless young girl. She need not show more have worried, though, for she discovers in pretty short order that Jack, the chauffeur, is at least as noble-blooded as she is and would cheerfully lay down his life to protect Lys from insult or injury. The two have a good laugh at the fact that the real "gentleman" and "lady" on this trip are the hired help. Lys is pretty honest with Jack about why she's been driven to play this role, but it's not until the end that she gets to find out why Jack is in the predicament.
They motor around France, enjoy one another's company, make a pact to be brother and sister (yeah, right) and stick by one another in various adventures. Lots of travelogue bits about rural France, lots of noble behavior from lovely Jack, plenty of scrapes for Lys to get into and out of, and the main characters are in disguise...Yup, it's a Williamsons' book! show less