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

Pretty heavy atmosphere. A woman named Anita, about age 30, is living in a state of near isolation for reasons that go unstated for the majority of the book. She has a faithful servant named Sarah who mothers her and tries to make some sort of life for the two of them. Pretty soon Sarah decides that they have enough money and should go live in Spain, a place Anita has longed to see. Once there they are able to rent a house with a dream garden. It's right next to the Alhambra, and Anita feels show more pretty certain she can live out the rest of her life in satisfaction inside the garden walls. However, a random meeting with a man shakes her complacency, especially when he seeks her out and confesses love at first sight (yeah, the handling there was kind of clumsy, but well within the usual for a turn-of-the-century romance).

Why is Anita struggling so hard against the chance to be happy? The answer, which lies in her past, is not nearly so disturbing as the solution that lies in her future. Kind of sad and just too heavy. Although it did make me curious about the Alhambra. show less

Typical Williamsons' fare, but things were kind of dragged out.
Molly and Jack, the protagonists of "The Lightning Conductor" are on their way to America to inspect a house that one of Molly's relatives has just left her. On their voyage they meet a beautiful young woman (Patsy) who is just returning home after years of education in France, a mysterious young man (Peter) who is traveling third-class and clearly has a PAST, and an interfering middle-aged widow (Mrs. Shuster) with too much show more money and too little class. When the boat docks in New York, Patsy finds out that her father is bankrupt. Her new friends suggest that they should turn her ancestral home into a hotel and soon satisfy all creditors.
This plan is adopted. Soon all of the above-mentioned plus several others are staying at or near "Kidd's Pines," the house-turned-hotel. From there they take a couple of multi-car road trips. Peter acts as chauffeur; an undesirable suitor pursues Patsy; the undesirable widow pursues her father. It's up to Molly and Jack, and the mysterious Peter, to conspire so that everything turns out all right for everyone.

Just not my favorite Williamsons...didn't care for the irresponsible father or the stilted communication between the hero and heroine, and the travelogue bits got to be too much for me, so I skimmed a lot. show less

An adventure/suspense book.
Consuelo Brand is an orphaned young woman with a dull existence, working as a sort of nursery-maid for her third cousin's children. When she is permitted a rare afternoon out with her friend, she jumps at the chance. As they watch the well-dressed gentry promenading by, she expresses the wish that just for a little while she could be like them.
A well-born older woman who happens to be sitting nearby breaks in at this point and asks Consuelo and her friend to her show more house for tea. Then she proposes that Consuelo come to her for a few weeks and be made over as a debutante. Enchanted, Consuelo accepts in spite of her friend's reservations.
On the surface this appears to be just an unbelievable coincidence that one would only expect in a novel. But is it? Is there more behind Lady De Gretton's hospitable offer? Why are a wealthy mother-and-daughter pair that Consuelo has never met suddenly following her through town in a wild carriage chase? When Consuelo knocks at the wrong door and is met by an elderly gentleman, why does he entice her to come inside and try to chloroform her? Why does a young man whom Consuelo is falling in love with tell her that he has to "confess" something to her before he can ask her a certain question?
I thought that there must be one overall mystery here to explain everything, but there are TWO basically unrelated mysteries. One is more harmless than the other.
Enjoyable, fast-paced suspense novel. show less