Thank you to Netgalley and Black Rose Writing for an advance copy of this book.

I really wanted to love this book - and upstairs, downstairs storyline with lots of mixing and mingling. And the book takes place in coastal Maine! However, as I got halfway through the book was generally a slog. I was interested in some characters and plot lines but it didn’t hold my attention, unfortunately, and some aspects were a bit far fetched for that time in mid Coast Maine.

It’s worth a try if you are looking for a Maine based historic novel with some class aspects!

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing, and author Tavi Taylor Black for the advanced reader copy of this book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Television series such as Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age tend to romanticize what life was like during their era. For the most part, it wasn't enjoyable for many of the people who lived it. It was a time when servants were regarded more as possessions than actual human beings, no matter how these series tend to sugar-coat it.

Serabelle tells the story of a home in Bar Harbor, Maine before Acadia National Park. There are numerous wealthy summer homes on Mount Desert Island, where the park will be one day. The biggest problem these owners face is the battle over whether or not to allow automobiles on the island.

Mabel is a young maid, arriving at Serabelle for her first job. Her mother is a servant and life would seem to dictate that her daughter must do the same. When the owner of Serabelle, Mr. Hunt, takes a shine to her, Mabel believes his words and enters into an affair with him. Soon she is pregnant. Beverly, the head housekeeper, feels sorry for Mabel and arranges for her to become engaged to the gardener. Mabel isn't so sure that's the life she wants, though.

Serabelle is an interesting story from many angles. The Hunts believe they are good employers and good to their servants. Yet those same servants live under constant threat of being dismissed on a whim. There is no protection for them. Mabel could be fired and sent away without any recourse. Beverly's machinations mean that she will still have a job and not be on the street. There was no help then for young mothers. If she lost her job the baby would have likely ended up in the orphanage. The man she marries, Gardener, has more of a love for Serabelle than the owners. Inside the brusque exterior is a man who knows how to cultivate a garden and manages to keep it pristine with his dedication. He's not literate but has crafted a journal showing what has worked with the various plants.

The Hunts are not a happy family, despite being one of the wealthiest in New England. At one time the husband and wife had feelings for each other, but the years have made them jaded. Both of their children have grown and are living on their own, although Rupert does visit the summer home. Their favorite pastimes seems to be antagonizing each other. Mabel is not the first maid that Mr. Hunt has had a dalliance with. Despite the fact that he leads her on, in a sense he's looking for something from her he doesn't get from his wife anymore, and it's not just sex. It's the way Mabel looks at him with adoration and love that intrigues him, even if he'll never end his marriage to take up with the maid. It's just not done.

Most of the staff at Serabelle stay there in winter, maintaining the house for when the Hunts return the next spring. The season is winding down, and there's some fretting over who will go back to Boston with them and who will remain employed at Serabelle. This is especially hard on Mabel as it's her first season there and she's pregnant now. The servants are seemingly counting down the days until they depart and they can go on about their lives without any interference from their employers.

There's an intriguing subplot involving the son, Rupert, who still struggles with his identity, even though he is a lawyer who earns a good living. Something inside him still resents his father like a teenage boy. This leads to him being manipulated into a planned gem heist of the "rocks" his father has collected over the years. The gems are Mr. Hunt's hobby, despite them being worth quite a bit of money.

Tavi Taylor Black does an excellent job here. Living so close to Maine, this book intrigued me a great deal. I never knew that the wealthy once gathered at Bar Harbor the same way they once gathered at Newport. The Maine setting is a bit more isolated, I think. Fewer people seem to congregate here than once populated Newport in the summer, but the idea is the same. All of her characters have depth and are more than what we see on the surface. For Mabel, it's a time that forces her to grow up. This contrasts with her lover, Mr. Hunt, who really never grew up.

I found Serabelle to be an easy, enjoyable read. The characters were relatable and the setting is beautiful. The time period is familiar to many and it's easy to pick up the dynamic that's going on. Things are about to change for all of the people involved here. Mabel is the one who won't accept her station in life and is the catalyst for the change the future holds here, and it's easy to understand why. If you like Upstairs-Downstairs-type historical fiction, I think you'll love this book.

Serabelle is a work of historical fiction set in 1913. Mabel, a 17 year old girl, takes a position as a housemaid at the Ainsworth-Hunt coastal cottage in Bar Harbor, ME.

Throughout the story there was family drama, drama among the servants, family betrayal, revenge, and differences between upper and lower classes. There were a few storylines and they all came together. Overall I enjoyed this story and was interested to see what drama came next.

“Serabelle” by Tavi Taylor Black is a historical fiction set in the early 1900s. Mabel, a young girl, takes up a position as a housemaid in a luxurious summer house in Bar Harbour, Main. Fresh and naive, she draws the attention of Alastair, the master of the house. Of course, she is flattered, and he takes advantage of her in every way possible that men of that position and in that era could. Alastair is not the only person in the house who is untrustworthy—his own son doesn’t hesitate to betray his father. And of course, Alastair’s wife is more than willing to extract revenge on her husband for his betrayals. Mabel ending up pregnant and abandoned by the father is not unexpected. She is the one who is seen as the harlot while the man can do what he likes. Luckily Mabel has some friends in the house who help her find some alternatives to ending up being cast out on the streets.

I enjoyed this book a lot, but it made me angry to think of how many poor young women suffered in that era from the hands of men, especially men of power. And it also made me angry to think that such things still happen today in many instances, but at the same time, appreciate the “me too” movement bringing accountability for such actions.

This was a well-written book and I highly recommend it! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. My opinion is my own.

A historical fiction set in Bar Harbour, Maine in the early 1900's. The book follows Mabel, a new maid at Serabelle who draws the eye of the older, married master of the house. This then results in her pregnant and stuck as what options did a young girl have in those days, pregnant and alone?
The story is well written and factually correct. It was interesting to learn about the history of the time, that there was a black boy, who was a servant in Serabelle, and how he worked alongside the white servants. This was a new and different thing in those days.
The story has an upstairs downstairs feel as you hear about both the masters and mistresses of the house but then also the servants.
I enjoyed reading the story but found the storyline went off on its own sub storylines constantly and I felt that the initial storyline was overlooked.

This was a very interesting well written story portraying the period of history before America acknowledged that all people count and poorer people were not owned by the rich as playthings. The story is mainly about Mabel and her interaction with other the servants as well as the rich owners of the Cottage.
It was a good read that I did enjoy but it ended suddenly and I felt that it needed a much better ending to conclude all that had gone on with Mabel.

In Maine 1913, a young girl joins the staff at a cottage for the summer. She ends up pregnant and is ignored by the father of the baby. The gardener offers to marry her. The story follows along with the turmoil just starting in America.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.