The Girl in the Castle by Santa Montefiore

The Girl in the Castle by Santa Montefiore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think it should have been called The Girls in the Castle as it follows the life of three girls born in 1900.

Kitty Deverill the Anglo-Irish lass who fights with the Rebels to free Ireland from British rule. Michael Doyle will destroy her life when he burns Castle Deverill killing her Grandfather. When she confronts him he brutally rapes her and tells her that her boyfriend Jack O'Leary will be arrested as Michael betrayed him to the hated Tans.

Bridie/Bridget Doyle - daughter of the castle's cook and Kitty's best friend. Her secret love for Jack O'Leary destroys her friendship with Kitty when she finds out that he loves Kitty not her. Turning to Bertie Deverill (Kitty's Father) for comfort she is devastated when he cast her aside when she tells him she is PG. The nuns at the convent where she gives birth tells her, her daughter died and take her son from her. Bridget's brother Michael takes the baby from the convent and leaves it on Kitty's doorstep. Kitty raises little Jack as her own and eventually marries her tutor, Mr Trench in order to give little Jack a Father believing that Jack O'Leary will never get out of prison. When he does Kitty's world is turned upside down and she begins an affair with him, but he wants more. And Bridget Doyle's return as a wealthy woman wanting "her son" back further complicates the situation. We also learn that little Jack's twin sister is alive and living with a wealthy family in Connecticut in the Epilogue (Bridget inherited the old lady she was lady's maid to in New York's estate when she died, then she married an elderly neighbor)

Celia Deverill - The English Cousin who loved her summers at Castle Deverill. When Bertie sells the ruins Celia and her husband Archie Mayberry buy the estate and Celia vows to rebuild the castle.

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