The Mistress of Tall Acre

Another new favorite! This book is scrumptiously, delightfully dramatic. Sophie has spent her life quietly and recently lost her mother, her only friend. The Revolutionary War has just ended, but her father deserted his family long before to run back to Scotland, where his loyalties are, and her brother is missing in the war. To make matters worse, she gets a letter informing her that her home, Three Chimneys, has been confiscated for her father's Tory views and for unpaid back taxes.
Enter Lily Cate Ogilvy, a charming little miss of five and a half, whose father has just returned as a war hero and brought her home to his estate of Tall Acre. Lily Cate is instantly drawn to Sophie despite the differences in their age, and her father is deeply grateful for the friendship.
Often child main characters are overdone or are simply effigies of true childhood. This youngster is a living, breathing one, natural as they come, and an excellent example of how children ought to be portrayed in books. She is smart but childish at the same time, loving and capricious.
And slowly these three are drawn into becoming a family. But, just as Sophie dares to dream of a future as a true wife to General Ogilvy, past secrets out of their control threaten to break apart their home. (A variation on the secrets-plot that I loved: it was the secrets of others that they're mired in. Genius.) And the actions of others bid fair to wreck their future...