Review: Yours from the Tower

Title: Yours from the Tower
Author: Sally Nicholls
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Walker Books US
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: January 30, 2024
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Bridgerton fans rejoice! This epistolary confection—told in letters among three school friends—is perfect for devotees of gossipy costume drama.

Tirzah, Sophia, and Polly are best friends who’ve left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. The year is 1896, and Polly is teaching in an orphanage, Sophia is scouting for a rich husband at the London Season, and Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters buzzing with atmosphere and drama, the friends air their dreams, hopes, frustrations, and romances. Can this trio of very different young women—one industrious, one artful, and one in exile—find happiness and love near the dawn of the Edwardian era? From the award-winning author of the Carnegie Medal–nominated historical romance The Silent Stars Go By comes a playful, feel-good story of friendship and aspiration pitched just right for fans of Jane Austen and her contemporary disciples.

Review:

1896: Tirzah, Polly, and Sophia are friends from boarding school who keep in touch through letters after they’ve finished school and moved on in their lives. Tirzah is living with her strict grandmother. Polly is working at an orphanage. Sophia is staying with her wealthy aunt and uncle for the season to find a husband. All three girls have to deal with tough problems as they move away from their teenage years and become young women.

This was a great epistolary novel. The short letters made the story fly by. It was easy to differentiate the three storylines since the girls were each leading such different lives. Polly was working, Sophia was looking for a husband, and Tirzah was still being treated like a child at home. They all had serious issues to deal with, such as a parent with alcoholism and a parent who abandoned their children. Despite these hardships, the story had a happy ending. 

Yours From the Tower was a great coming of age story. 

Thank you Walker Books US for sending me a copy of this book. 

Content warnings: alcoholism, parental abandonment, death of parent

Have you read Yours from the Tower? What did you think of it?

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Author: jilljemmett

Jill lives in Toronto, Canada. She has studied English, Creative Writing, and Publishing. Jill is the creator and content producer of Jill’s Book Blog, where she has published a blog post every day for the last four years, including 5-7 book reviews a week. She can usually be found with her nose in a book.

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