Sophie’s assistance to her father and her own talent in landscapes are seemingly dismissed by him and he is overly critical towards her. Will she regret marrying Captain Overtree when a repentant Wesley returns? Or will she find herself torn between the father of her child and her growing affection for the husband she barely knows? But at Overtree Hall, her problems are just beginning. If he dies in battle, as he believes he will, she’ll be a respectable widow with the protection of his family.ĭesperate for a way to escape her predicament, Sophie agrees to marry a stranger and travel to his family’s estate. He does not offer love, or even a future together, but he can save her from scandal.

Wanting to do something worthwhile with his life, Stephen proposes to Sophie. But his happiness plummets when he realizes Wesley has left her with child and sailed away to Italy in search of a new muse.

He’s startled to recognize her from a miniature portrait he carries with him–one of Wesley’s discarded works. Knowing his brother rented a cottage from a fellow painter, he travels to Devonshire and meets Miss Dupont, the painter’s daughter. It’s where she met the handsome Wesley Overtree, the first man to tell her she’s beautiful.Ĭaptain Stephen Overtree is accustomed to taking on his brother’s neglected duties. She often walks the cliffside path along the north Devon coast, popular with artists and poets. Sophie Dupont, daughter of a portrait painter, assists her father in his studio, keeping her own artwork out of sight. The Painter’s Daughter by Julie Klassen is such a delightfully complex story with vivid characters and heart-wrenching circumstances.

The Painter's Daughter by Julie Klassen