The Changeling (Daughters of England, #15) by Philippa Carr

The Changeling (Daughters of England, #15) Reviews

• 
  Kathy Davie

  Fifteenth in the Daughters of England historical fiction series in the gothic romance vein. The focus in this one is on a Victorian-era daughter, Rebecca Mandeville and her family.
  
  My Take
  A typical gothic romance with cozy overtones that thwart Carr's attempts to create tension and drama. I'm not sure if my frustration with this is due to how long ago this story was first released and the silly tropes used in this were typical of the writing styles when this was written or if this was an aberration. I know I liked Victoria Holt, one of Carr's pseudonym's, when I was a kid. That said, the protagonist, Rebecca, annoyed the hell out of me. She's such a snot. Granted, she has reason for her unhappiness, but even as she grows, she doesn't acknowledge how unfair she's been, although she's quite keen to disparage others for doing exactly what she's doing.
  
  She is so incredibly clueless… And I thought this was the Victorian era when single women couldn't go anywhere unattended? Rebecca goes EVERYwhere unattended. Including into some very dubious establishments. What is Rebecca, or should I say, what is Carr thinking?
  
  I'm confused. If Angelet and her husband went to Australia to make it big and come back to England to live in comfort, how has she managed her current comfort if he died there? Then there's Benedict's marriage to Celeste. Supposedly he needs a wife who can hostess dinners, etc. for this upcoming and brilliant politician. And she can barely speak English. How does this make her an asset?
  
  That penultimate scene between Pedrek and her…MAJOR eye roll there. I mean, duhhhh, all, and I mean ALL, the evidence is right in front of her and she's too stupid to make the connections??? Give. Me. A. Break. I thought she was supposed to be intelligent. The scene with Jacque-Philip at Tor Hill? Puh-lease. How naive can she be? Personally, I'd've leaped to the conclusion that the attacker was him way before anyone else!
  
  Tragedy, drama, whining, the stupid trope, it's all here.
  
  The ending was happy enough, and much too easy.
  
  The Story
  It’s so romantic that Angelet and Benedict are free to marry each other, having been childhood sweethearts separated by events. They’re so incredibly happy with only one fly in the ointment: Rebecca hates her new stepfather for taking the place of the father she never knew.
  
  When Angelet becomes pregnant, Rebecca looks forward to her new brother or sister arriving. What no one anticipates is how hard the birth is. And Benedict is like Sir Ronald, unforgiving. It’s a pair they are, two people hating in a family with a newborn.
  
  A few years later, disaster strikes at Christmas, and Lucie loses her mother tragically. Luckily, Rebecca and her grandparents are kindly people and take Lucie in. Lucky in so many ways…
  
  The Characters
  Rebecca is Angelet's beloved daughter. Angelet Mandeville lost her husband during a rescue attempt in Australia. Now she lives in London with her daughter and visits her grandparents often at Cador, their house in Cornwall. Miss Brown is Rebecca's governess. Mr. and Mrs. Emery are the handyman and housekeeper/cook in the London house; they'll be elevated to butler and housekeeper when they move to Manorleigh The maids, Jane and Ann, will move as well. Mrs. Grant is the cook hired for Manorleigh. Alfred is a footman in the London house. The baby is Belinda Mary, and Leah will become her nurse. Jim Fedder is a groom in the Manorleigh stables. Miss Stringer is Belinda and Lucie's governess.
  
  Miss Martha is the daughter who survived her mother's, Lady Flamstead's death. Sir Ronald never forgave her.
  
  Cador in Cornwall
  Rolf is Becca's grandfather; Annora is her grandmother. Jack is Angelet's brother; he and his wife, Marian, will inherit Cador when their parents die. They have two children, twins: Jacco and Anne-Mary. Mrs. Garnett is the cook at Cador. Jim Isaacs and Stubbs are two of the grooms. Dr. Wilmington is the family doctor. Madge is a new kitchen maid with a loose tongue.
  
  Pedrek Cartwright is Rebecca's best friend — they were born in the same house out in Australia. His grandparents, Josiah Pencarron and his wife, own a mine near Rebecca's grandparents' home in Cornwall. Justin and Morwenna Cartwright are Pedrek's parents who live in London.
  
  Benedict Lansdon is the grandson of "Uncle" Peter, a great friend of Rebecca's family. Amaryllis is Peter's wife. Peterkin is their son, and he works with his wife, Frances, at the Mission his father established. Helena is Peter and Amaryliss' daughter and is married to a politician, Martin Hume. I'm not sure where Grace Hume fits in, other than she's worked closely with Benedict at some point besides working at the Mission. The wealthy Lizzie Morley was Benedict's first wife. Celeste Bourdon will become his third. Yvette is her lady's maid.
  
  Oliver Gerson is a charming business colleague of Benedict's whom he inherited when Uncle Peter's businesses came to him. Tom Marner is an Australian mine owner and colleague who visits Benedict at Manorleigh.
  
  In Cornwall
  Jenny Stubbs is a young woman who lost a child she cared for and so lost a bit of her mind as well. She becomes pregnant with Lucie. She works for the kindly Mrs. Bullet and, I guess, Mrs. Granger. Mrs. Polhenny is an excellent midwife and vituperative religious nut job. Leah is her much-abused daughter who does beautiful embroidery.
  
  The Bourdons are French émigrés who will buy High Tor. Celeste is the daughter; the licentious Jean Pascal is the son. The Stennings are the latest tenants of High Tor.
  
  Madame Perrotte is teaching Rebecca to curtsy for her presentation. Jack Kellaway worked for Josiah and was injured in a mining accident. A tragedy left his wife, Mary, and daughter, Mary, alone.
  
  The Cover
  The cover is gothic enough with its woods and the tightly buttoned-up Rebecca sitting on the stone bench with her letter and the mysterious gentleman in the background. With all that orange on the ground, I’m tempted to say it’s autumn, but the trees still have their leaves.
  
  The title is where it ends up, with The Changeling. A rather obvious one.
  
• 
  Marie Burton

  So many twists with this one. A good drama with an interesting lot of characters. Scandal, ghosts, treachery and a bit of redemption. The family tree continues on & looking forward to the next book!
• 
  Carolyn

  
  
  The Changeling is not a mystery, nor is it a good historical novel, both of which are genres I love. Instead it is a stereotypical romance novel that just happens to be set in Victorian England. The author dropped a couple of names (Disraeli and Gladstone)and describes the Queen (in passing) as "a diminutive figure with an expression of gloom and an air of aloofness which was rather disconcerting." But this was not enough to truly leave the reader with a sense of the time or place in which the story was set.
  
  Mystery? No mystery here. Read the title. Story? Read the jacket fly leaf and save yourself time.
  
  If you really like Harlequin Romances, you will probably like The Changeling. I do not and I did not.
• 
  Jessica

  One of my favorite books from high school, this is the story of childhood sweethearts from Cornwall, a suitably dramatic setting for this gothic tale! This book has everything: deaths, ghosts, babies switched at birth, ravishments in old castles . . . and yet it's all very demurely done. I liked that quite a bit, it was very reminiscent of something like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. Affairs and other scandalous matters were spoken of with veiled comments and euphemisms that were in keeping with the time period. The mysteries (there are a couple) are well done, as are the romances (there are a couple of those, too).
• 
  Phil Syphe

  “The Changeling” is a refreshing change after the continual use of repeated themes in the past few books in the Daughters of England series. We don’t get the adulterous affairs, and the love story – which is usually the focal point – is a subplot. Family relationships are more prominent in this novel, largely owing to the main character Rebecca being a child when the story opens.
  
  One thing this author was very good at was creating child characters, and Lucie & Belinda are believable and vivid, as is the young Rebecca. I like these three characters and Oliver the most.
  
  This author, including her works as Victoria Holt, has a tendency to have her heroines refer to one of the male characters by both names, which really irritates me. This novel has several characters referred to by both names, as shown is the quoted dialogue exchange below:
  
  “Oh … ups and downs,” said Justin Cartwright. “I am sure you know as much about the mining world as I do … only I suppose tin isn’t gold.”
  “There must be a difference,” said Benedict Lansdon. “But my close connection with all that ended long ago.”
  “Ah, yes, of course,” replied Justin Cartwright.
  “I’m going into politics again,” said Benedict Lansdon, looking at my mother.
  
  Most annoying of all is the number of times Oliver Gerson is referred to by his full name. No other character’s first name is Oliver, & no other character’s surname is Gerson, so why not call him by one title or the other? Really bugs me!
  
  Another of this author's annoying traits is the overuse of reported speech:
  
  >“How did the wedding go?”
  I told them that all had gone according to plan.<
  
  Reported speech is passive. Why not make it active by changing it to dialogue?
  
  A few times, the author ruins the suspense with lines like these:
  
  >It was a happy Christmas, even for me … the last I was to know for a long time.<
  
  While lines of this type often make for good novel openers, they fall flat when inserted halfway through a story. It robs all suspense because you know for certain that something will happen.
  
  Also, the author provides her own spoiler with the book’s title. Without giving anything away, the revelation at the end is no surprise to the reader.
  
  Despite the above criticisms, I like the change in direction in this novel compared to its predecessors, and enjoyed it in the most part.
• 
  An EyeYii

  *** "The Changeling" by Philippa Carr aka Victoria Holt is an old-fashioned kiss-less romance in Victorian England, entangled in servant gossip and rising political ambition, with children and adults who can behave both well and ill. I had heard of Rebecca de Mandeville, but mistakenly connected with the story called Rebecca. Becca is born in Australia in the same fine house as Pedrek, and when her father dies saving his in a mine accident, both grow up in Cornwall, childhood sweethearts. I do not think I have read the story before, just that the author leaves pointed clues so we are ahead of the characters to decipher a mysterious adoption, attack, and disappearance.
• 
  Becky

  Part of a series of mother to daughter generations stories telling the history of England from Henry VIII to WW II. Fabulous to read them all in order. Each one is a gem; each is surprising and well written.
  
  This reflects a bit of the eerie feeling that Victoria Holt is famous for; Phillipa Carr is another pen name.
• 
  Susie James

  Periodically, my weakness for authors that began in late teenage years erupts, and I have to read some of those novels! Just finished one from the paperback swap rack at the Carrollton library, "The Changeling", by Philippa Carr -- aka Victoria Holt. All right, I'll say the truth, I'd figured out the mysteriously veiled relationships well in advance! Shan't say anything more...
• 
  Linda

  It is not too difficult to guess who the "changeling" is, but knowing in advance does not spoil the satisfaction of seeing what direction things take. Set in Victorian London and Cornwall.
• 
  Janis

  The writing was fine, but the storyline reminded me of a night-time drama or soap opera. I suppose it fits with when the book was written. Gotta love those 80s!
• 
  Gary Branson

  Not as repetitious as some of the previous entries in this series. Plot was predictable. Good character development.
• 
  Jennifer Collins

  This was my first dip into trying Philippa Carr (or Victoria Holt, for that matter), and it was hit and miss for me. On one hand, I enjoyed the characters and the historical element--it felt a bit like a predecessor to VC Andrews, who I used to read in high school, if a more mature version in some ways. At the same time, a lot of the drama felt forced and manufactured in a way that took away from the believability of it, even given the expected melodrama, and there were more than a few times when I couldn't help rolling my eyes at the characters' behavior or the way the plot progressed.
  
  So, for what it is, I enjoyed it well enough, but it was something I had to be in the mood to pick up, and it was rarely the page-turner I'd been led to expect the author's works to be. I imagine I'll try another at some point--I've got a whole stack that a friend gave me--but it might be a while.
• 
  Jodi

  I enjoyed this book and it was different from a lot of the gothic romance that you see from this author. I was appalled by Belinda's behavior and was so mad that the adults in the story just shook their heads at her misbehavior. She was pretty rotten!! I'm glad everything turned out for the best in the end!
• 
  Maria

  1,5⭐
  Poza lekko złą techniczną stroną tej książki była po prostu momentami nudna. Relacje między bohaterami nie były porywające. Taka nijaka. Już minimalnie lepsza była poprzednia książka z tej serii.
• 
  Sue

  felt this series was getting stuck in a rut of the same story rehashed but the last 2 books have given a fresh boost. hope it continues
• 
  Santi

  I loved it. It's so fantastic as all her books
• 
  Kit

  This was fine, except for the author creating a six year-old who lied about being raped. Like, what?
• 
  Sandy

  Love this book
  
  Excellent book. The storyline has many twists and turns. I would highly recommend the author,Philippa Carr to all my friends.