Rachel Woodley is a somewhat shy and unassuming young woman working as a nursery governess in France. When she receives a telegram five days late about her mother being ill, she finally stands up for herself and quits her job to return to England. Upon her return home she finds out that not only has her mother died, but she's missed the funeral. To add insult to injury, she then finds out her presumably deceased father is still alive with another daughter. What follows is Rachel's quest to find out more about her father and his other family in Lauren Willig's latest, The Other Daughter.

Once Rachel learns the truth about her father, she has the opportunity to change her life view from behind the stairs as a nursery governess, to that of an estranged cousin to Simon Montfort. With Simon's assistance, Rachel soon becomes Vera Merton, and enters the world of her half-sister, Lady Olivia Standish. The only person in this upper crust world that Rachel/Vera seems to have anything in common with is Olivia's fiancé, John Trevannion. The longer Rachel stays in her role as Vera, the more she realizes that her search for the truth just might end up hurting one of the people she's come to admire, her half-sister.

I found The Other Daughter to be a fast-paced and engrossing read. The story is set in the mid-1920s after WWI. Ms. Willig mentions some of the problems of British society at the time, lack of jobs, lack of sufficient pay, and the ongoing psychological trauma for those that fought in the war, but none are discussed in great detail. I enjoyed Rachel's role as Vera Merton and was somewhat surprised by how well she adapted from the shy, unassuming young woman from the country to a popular and witty Bright Young Thing in the city. The Other Daughter provides tons of drama: daughters beholden to their mothers, sons beholden to their families and estates, etc. There aren't any bad guys in The Other Daughter, just plenty of interesting characters and situations making for a good read. If you enjoy reading historical fiction or family drama, then you'll want to add The Other Daughter to your reading list.

The ending is what made me like the book. It started a bit slow, but the ending makes it all worth it!

Too much detail about all the parties

The book started good, didn't put a lot of emphasis on the dad at the end of book and left that whole family not tied up. Like the book started and she got tired of writing the end so just finished. Should have been longer more detailed.

It was an easy read that provoked the conversation about non-traditional families in centuries past.

This book became alive only after our book discussion. We explored the time period and found out about a generation of people like Cece who were struggling with the aftermath of 'a war to end all wars'. We tended to agree the structure was a bit confusing.