When you find yourself trying to remember a show (or any works) that's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach, come here - the collective brain of the TVTropes community can probably help. Post all the details you can remember (examples help). If you're looking for a trope, head over to Trope Finder. Have general questions about tropes? Visit Ask The Tropers!
jormis29
Since: Mar, 2012
river2629
Since: Apr, 2023

I remember a lot about this book but I can't find it online for the life of me. It was a YA fiction book that I read maybe around 2008? It's about a girl who was abandoned as a baby but three professors find her and decide to adopt her. One of the professors is a harpist, and there's some side plot thing about her getting a new harp but it won't reach its peak sound during her lifetime. Anyway the girl has a friend who works with horses, specifically this breed that is famous for its ability to stand on its hind legs and hold the pose for an impressive amount of time. This comes back near the end when he's able to pull it off to save a child who accidentally ran underneath his horse's hooves. The main plot involves the girl befriending an elderly woman who is a relative of a girl who bullies her. The bully's family doesn't care about the old woman so they have the MC care for her instead. The old woman used to have a bunch of beautiful jewels, but had to sell them to get by after her husband died. The pieces were very important to her, so a friend of hers sold them for her and replaced them with glass replicas. It's ultimately revealed that he lied—he didn't sell the originals, but gave them back to her along with the money from "selling" them. After the old woman dies she leaves everything to the MC. An aristocratic woman claiming to be the MC's mother appears, and the MC gets whisked off to live with her and sent to finishing school at some point, where she is miserable. It turns out that the aristocrat is secretly in financial distress and is unwilling to risk her status/mode of living. She found out that the jewels were real and that they'd been left to the MC. When the MC finds out about the jewels, she ends up back with her professors. The aristocrat tries one last "I'm super sorry for using you" and the MC gets on a boat with her, finally her friends discover the full truth and yell at her from shore that " SHE — IS — NOT — YOUR — MOTHER!". She jumps into the water and swims back to a happy ending.
There is honestly more that I remember but this is long enough as it is. Anyone remember this book??
Edited by river2629