"The Girl in the Gatehouse" by Julie Klasse, a fiction editor who has worked with Christian publishers for over 12 years.

The novel is set in a Jane Austen-era and tells the story of Miss Mariah Aubrey who hides herself away in an abandoned gatehouse on a distant relative's estate after being banished from the only home she's ever known. Maria supports herself and loyal servant by writing novels in secret.

Captain Matthew Bryant returns to England after the Napoleonic wars and leases the estate and finds himself intrigued by Mariah who he discovers in the estates gate house. Captain Matthew Bryant sets out to discover her identity and her past he learns that he must distant himself from her as she is an outcast. But will he risk his plans and heart for Mariah who is shadowed by scandal? As the story goes on Maria and Captain Matthew Bryant discover that the gate house holds many secrets of its own and set out on a quest to uncover these secrets, before a cunning heir to the estate buries them forever.