Showing results by author "Marie Silk" in All Categories

The family saga begins in Debutante, a prequel to the best-selling Davenport House series. A life of luxury for the Davenports means drudgery for the servants on the grand country estate. This is their story in 1909 America, six years prior to the events of book one. While her father is away on business, 16-year-old Mary Davenport feels confined and alone, despite her privileged life at the family's mansion. As the day of Mary's debutante ball draws near, the servants are conflicted by instructions from Mary's mother to starve her until she fits into a gown that was made too small.

The family and servants must face their fears amid love and jealousy, grief and moving forward, and the threat of imminent war with the world. The restructure of an upper-class family affects all who live on the Pennsylvania estate. Twenty-two-year-old Mary Davenport stays occupied with modernizing the house, but insecurities arise when she develops romantic feelings for the first time. Tensions rise as Davenport House enters a new chapter with more challenges than anyone is prepared for.

Mary Davenport is a 22-year-old idealist who worries that the world in the Progressive Era is leaving her behind. She lives isolated in the Pennsylvania countryside with her affluent and secretive family. When her father dies suddenly, Mary becomes pained with grief and increasingly suspicious of those around her. A humble servant girl has the chance of a lifetime to become a lady's companion. Costly dresses, exquisite rooms, and fine dinners are pleasant distractions from what is really happening in the house.

The family saga concludes in this final installment to Davenport House. Confusion abounds at Davenport Estate after a neighbor's sudden disappearance. Further questions arise when a tombstone is uncovered on the land, but no one seems to know who it belongs to or where it came from. A case of brain fever affects one of the ladies and threatens to turn fatal. Meanwhile, the household staff prepares for change with the hiring of a new housekeeper and servant boy.

It is 1919 when America begins to heal from the Great War and take her first steps into a roaring new era. The residents of Davenport House are changing with the times as new fashions and new laws are introduced. Clara turns a blind eye to her troubles at home and plans a grand masquerade ball for the county. Bridget uncovers a distressing truth and returns to the house to warn the others but soon finds she is no longer welcome there. When a suspicious death occurs on the estate, the abundance of motives and sudden hushed lips cause tensions to rise throughout the house.

When Phillip and Ethan are sent to fight in the Great War, the ladies of Davenport House join noble causes on the home front while waiting for them to return. Clara, now a suffragette, is delighted to gain the attention of a secret admirer. Mary finds purpose in a new career during the nation's shortage of medical personnel. Soldiers wounded in mind and body return from the war and unknowingly import a deadly influenza, proving to every home that a far worse battle has just begun.

More to the story is revealed in this fourth book to Davenport House. Nellie Whitmore is accustomed to life as a carefree heiress, but her claim to the family fortune is at risk because of a new heir. Nellie is sent to Britain to be married before word spreads of her changing circumstances. What begins as a luxurious voyage becomes a fight for survival when the ship is caught in the midst of the war, forever changing the people who live to tell about it.

The family saga continues in this third book to Davenport House, beginning with a chapter that looks into the past to understand the present. Motor cars and telephone calls are now part of the modern life at Davenport House. It is summertime in 1915 Pennsylvania and the ladies of the house are making big plans for the year. Clara takes financial matters into her own hands and discovers an unlikely alliance outside of the house. The future becomes uncertain when faiths collide and a sudden outbreak of fever sweeps across the county.