The hope and dreams of a Queen’s housemaid…

Synopsis

It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent. 

Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

My review

Violet Parker couldn’t be happier when she learn that she is going to work as a housemaid for Queen Victoria. She sees this as the perfect opportunity to escape her mother who only uses Violet for her own and the Duchess of Kent’s benefit.
Violet is ready to discover the world on her own, but also to discover who Violet is without the threats of her mother.
Finding a kindred spirit not only with the Queen herself, Violet also befriends James Greene, assistant of Lord Melbourne. But James Greene has a reputation of being a ladies man, and the Queen’s court is not the most perfect place for romance, but more for secrets, scandals and conspiracies…

Not many may know this, but I have always been a fan of the British Royal Family. And Queen Victoria somehow always intrigued me a little bit more compared to the other royals.
So obviously, having a book with my favourite royal in it, was something I had to read!

The focus is of course not on the Queen herself, but on one of her housemaids, Violet Parker.
From the start, I had mixed feelings about Violet. Not because she is a character to dislike, but because of her background…
On one hand, I was as happy for her as she was herself at the opportunity to work for the Queen, but on the other hand it saddened me to see how her own mother uses Violet for her own benefit. And the way her mother just acts towards Violet, made my blood boil! I can’t grasp how a mother can be so evil, mean to her own children!

Violet enjoys her new life, but she is never truly freed from her mother. And when the Queen treats her very kindly, Violet is not knowing what to do… Should she betray the Queen’s trust to avoid her mother’s revenge? Or should she tell the truth, and be afraid of her mother’s repercussions?
While not always knowing what to do, we also see Violet maturing. She goes from some kind of gullible young girl, to a woman who stands up for herself and follows her own instinct.

Even on the romantic part, Violet learns the meaning of love. She is wary of the attention of James, as she knows his reputation. But I found it very smart of the author of linking Violet’s growing feelings towards James with the Queen falling in love with Albert.

We cannot truly speak of a real friendship between Victoria and Violet, as obviously Victoria is the Queen and Violet a mere housemaid. But being around the same age, somehow bounded these two total different women, trusting each other and even at times being confidantes.
And that is something I truly enjoyed reading, how despite many differences, also in stand, so many likenesses can be found.

I also enjoyed reading how despite Violet knowing her place and things that James can never be hers, her feelings cannot stop growing.
And more towards the end, we see how Violet decides to be the kind of woman she wants to be, and not what everyone wants her to be.

This story shows us that it’s in our right to live our lives as we want it to, without interferences of people who don’t have our best interest. But also that even if we are afraid of loving a person, or not knowing if it’s love or not, we are allowed to have these kind of feelings. And that it doesn’t matter how high or low you stand on the social scale, because whenever it concerns real love, or friendship, it’s the person that matters, not the title they carry around.