Really, at first it was hard to get to know the description of the setting and characters. The diction that is used is challenging enough until I get to the 2 and a half page.

I have class, so I just read 2 pages.
I became more familiar with the characters, the diction used is also more understandable.

This chapter tells Annie, a daughter of a single-parent-and business-woman named Laurel, who was engaged to a marine named Eric after only a month knowing. Eric was sent to a war at Afganistan. Annie was doubt yet still believe he would be safe.

Annie found an old blue book entitled The Missing Duchess, and she began to observe Oxforshire as the old book tells its story.

Well I need to confirm some words on dictionary so it needed more time to understand the meaning.
At a bar in Oxforshire, she met a fairly-old man named Gus. Gus seemed know something about the story of the Duchess.

This part, Gus began to tell the story he believed, which seemed slightly different from the blue-book's version. Annie became more interested as she lied that she conducted a literature research about it.

Annie couldn't tell anyone that she was just curious about the book. She felt there was something important the book wanted to tell her. It is related to her father who met Laurel at Oxfordshire, the same setting where the story of Duchess went on. It is because the book was actually her mothers—but Laurel never talked about father-thing.

Interesting!
Annie and her mother who was busy at that time planned to have a vacation in England. However, it turned out to be Annie had to spend her time to read and have literature chat with Gus. Gus seemed knowing much. He said he once be friend with the writer of the book.

Annie talked to the bar keeper whether she knew something about Duchess of Marlborough. Nicola said that there is a place named Grange where the Duchess might lived many years ago.

Annie observed the old house, at Grange. She sneaked in to the house and found some papers. The house was not as creepy as Gus told to her. She still met Gus at the corner of the bar and did chatting about it. Gus explained his point of view about the duchess, while Annie had papers to compare— she didn't say anything that she came—from the Grange.

Well, it was interesting to understand two points of view about the missing duchess here. One from Gus's story and one else from the book. Sometimes I confused but that's the challenge that makes me want to read more. Although I am a slow reader, but I will try.

Well, I admit this part is a bit boring because it was all about the old blue book. That book is The Missing Duchess written by J. Casper Augustine Seton. Annie and Gus always talked about the book. Annie also made some observation at Grange, the place where the story went. Maybe because I wanted to know the story of the present, I felt it is too much, yet I wondered what the relation between the book's story and the real story.

Well.. Still waiting for what happens next actually.
In this part, Annie found a trancript of the interview between the duchess and the writer. It was still on the Grange! The former house of the duchess. Annie began questioning it to Gus. Gus told every part of the story, but he was a bit startled when Annie actually had barked into the Grange.

Interesting!!!
Laurel had something to do with the Grange, but Annie didn't know what it was. She just knew that her mother did some business transaction there. Annie still hang out with Gus in the bar. They talked about the story behind the duchess that there were sort of love happening between Win (the writer) and Pru (the duchess' maid). The writer lived in the Grange along with the Duchess and Pru to write Mrs Spencer biography. She was smart, attracting, yet sometimes looked like insane. She was in her 90s.

I was crying, knowing the truth that actually Pru (an american girl who suffered from her marriage with her fiance, Charlie, that came home from Vietnam war in dreadful manner) was Laurel! Yes! Annie's mother. And Win Seton who was the writer of the book, is actually Gus (nickname from Augustine Seton) who shared all the story with Annie. It's complicated to tell. They once loved each other and was separated by Laurel's marriage with Charlie. Finally, Laurel (Pru) and Gus (Win) then met in Paris where Annie decided to take her last investigation through the book. Annie knew all of the truth hidden by her mum that her father was Charlie, a messed ex-soldier who committed suicide. Her father's story was bit terrific to tell as her mum said. Annie now understood why her mum always worried about her engagement with Eric, the one who was sent to Afghanistan, her fiance. Laurel didn't want the same thing happen to her beloved daughter.

The END