The tragic detail about Sophie and her father that Bridgerton on Netflix completely missed out

It just gets even more heartbreaking


During Bridgerton season four, we are introduced to Sophie Baek – and she has quite a layered family history with her mother and father.

In flashback scenes, we found out more about why Sophie is now a maid, when she is the daughter of a nobleman. It turns out her mother was a maid, and Sophie is an “illegitimate child” born out of wedlock, by two parents of different social classes. Because of this, much of Sophie’s heritage is kept under wraps, and she is referred to as her father’s “ward”.

But, it turns out Bridgerton on Netflix and the Bridgerton book its based on told different stories regarding Sophie and her father. This season is based on An Offer From a Gentleman in the Bridgerton book series, and has been changed quite a lot.

Sophie and her father in Bridgerton season four

via Netflix

The bond between Sophie and her father was different in the Bridgerton books

In the book, Sophie’s father Lord Penwood had minimal involvement with his illegitimate daughter. This is very different to how we saw it on the show, where Lord Penwood said he would do everything he could to help raise her. In the books, Penwood is dismissive towards his daughter, in the show he is much more affectionate.

A lot of her mother’s backstory is missed out too. Sophie’s mother is a housemaid, who died in childbirth. Instead of being raised then by her father, Sophie was instead brought up by her maternal grandmother until age three. After then, her grandmother became ill, and Sophie was reluctantly placed in Lord Penwood’s care.

Young Sophie in Bridgerton season four

via Netflix

In the book, Penwood publicly claimed Sophie was an orphaned friend’s child, whilst he only acknowledged her as his child in private, due to them having a stark resemblance.

This isn’t the only person who is shown to be much nicer to Sophie in the Netflix adaptation. In the books, Benedict is horrible to her, too! He is described as a “bully” who blackmailed Sophie into being his mistress. Sophie in the books really went through it!

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