Susan Miller Bücher

What would it be like to meet your ancestors? Janet Fraser, a young concert pianist, goes to stay at Thornley House, her mother's ancestral home in the Yorkshire Dales and is mysteriously transported back to the early nineteenth century. Shocked and confused, she is mistaken for Jeanette Thornley, a member of the family who eloped some years previously. The formidable matriarch, Lady Gabrielle, grudgingly accepts her into the household and Janet quickly has to learn the etiquette of regency domestic life to avoid arousing suspicion. Her principal ally is her "sister-in-law" Dorothea, who is unhappy in her arranged marriage to philanderer William Thornley and is reputed to have been poisoned by him. Janet is dismayed to be courted by Jeanette's former, elderly suitor and is blackmailed into agreeing to marry him. Can Janet keep Dorothea safe, but at the price of being trapped in the past?

Ocean City, New Jersey, was founded as a "Christian seaside resort" in 1879. Soon thereafter, it became a vibrant year-round community and a highly desirable summer retreat. Hotels were integral to the city's success. The most famous of these was the Flanders Hotel, which opened to much fanfare in 1923. It was built in the Spanish Mission Revival style and named after Belgium's Flanders Field; today, it is in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to other stately hotels, such as the Brighton, the Biscayne, and the Bellevue, many smaller hotels and guesthouses, like Jernee Manor, the Castle Inn, Locksley Hall, and the Scarborough Inn, were also established. Ocean City's Historic Hotels features the rich architectural and recreational history of this New Jersey coastal town and its many hotels.