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It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away.Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country.
But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans—ruin everything—forever.
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Daisy Derrington was born in India in October 1906 and so she is sixteen-and-a-half in ‘The Debutantes’. The book is not told in the first person, but at the same time the whole story is told through Daisy’s eyes and it is Daisy whom we rely on to know what is going on with the other girls, and with Michael Derrington and with Great-Aunt Lizzie.
I picture Daisy as not as beautiful as either of her older sisters, Violet or Poppy, but as very pretty in a slightly plump style. She is also much smaller than either of her sisters and she doesn’t like that much. However, she has a sweetness of expression and the man who is in love with her regards her as the most attractive of all the family.
Daisy is the organizer of the family. She sees that Violet needs to be presented at court and needs to have a London season so she plans and schemes and keeps everybody’s courage up so that the dream can come true.
Daisy has a very nice character. She looks out for all of her sisters, but, perhaps, especially for Rose who is three years younger and is a very delicate girl. Daisy feels that Rose is very clever and that her education has been neglected.
In the early part of the book Daisy is not sure whether she is in love with Julian, the young lawyer, but then she realises that he is besotted by Violet, so she puts him out of her mind.
Favourite occupation: Taking photographs and making films.
Favourite sport: Drag hunting where the hounds follow a trail of aniseed and the riders follow the hounds. Great fun, rushing through woods, jumping over hedges and splashing through rivers until eventually the hounds find the bag filled with strong-smelling aniseed and sometimes a few treats.
Favourite colour: pink
Favourite Food: Italian ice cream
Daisy and Poppy get on very well, as they are, although twins, so very different. Daisy keeps an eye on Poppy as she feels that Poppy is so immersed in her music she may do something quite stupid if her sister is not at hand to prevent her.
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Wasn't that awesome? If you're not sure if this book's for you (if you like historicals, you should definitely get yourself a copy) then you can read my review here. And if you do want it (which you totally should), you can buy it here:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository | Waterstones | Kindle UK
So, that's it for my stop on the blog tour! Leave me a comment telling me what you thought if you have read it, and if you would like to read it if you haven't! Thanks to MacMillan for organising the blog tour and a huge thanks to Cora for writing this post for me!
Be sure to head over to the other stops on the blog tour for more Debutantes awesomeness!
Be sure to head over to the other stops on the blog tour for more Debutantes awesomeness!
Debutantes is such a sweet book and I really like Daisy. Great post!
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