A Curse Dark as Gold

In my opinion this book has a very slow beginning, but if you stick with it, it’ll end up being a favorite.

Set in the fictional eighteenth-century town of Shearing, A Curse Dark as Gold is a complex tale of magic, greed, love, and redemption inspired by the fairytale "Rumpelstiltskin." Stirwaters mill is the town's heart. When James Miller dies without a male heir, the mill falls to his two young daughters, Charlotte and Rosie. Charlotte takes on the responsibility of running the mill, realizing that without it the town will die and the populace will be hard pressed to make ends meet. Although the girls know much about the mill's operation, they find that many aren't willing to do business with women. Also, a rival mill in a nearby town would like to eliminate the competition. Add to that the mill's proclivity to drop signs on innocent bystanders and refuse repairs to cracks and crevices, which reappear overnight. There are rumors that the mill is cursed, but Charlotte won't believe it. And the local superstitions are nonsense, of course. Like the miller's daughter in "Rumpelstiltskin," Charlotte must do the impossible. She accepts help from a mysterious man, Jack Spinner, who offers her a way out. For her mother's cheap ring, he'll spin straw into golden thread. The next time, the price is a bit dearer. But it's only jewelry and compared to the livelihood of a town, it seems a small price. And the final price? Maybe more than Charlotte can pay. But what connection does this man have to the mill and the bad fortune that plagues it? Charlotte needs to figure that out to save her mill, her town, and her family. Elizabeth Bunce has an amazing talent for immersing the reader in her setting. The town and mill fairly reek of old England, as do her characters. Charlotte is head-strong and determined. Rosie is charmingly impulsive. Uncle Wheeler is delightfully arrogant and wicked, and the numerous townsfolk fit into the story perfectly. Ms. Bunce has used ordinary words to spin a finely crafted work of art--A Curse Dark as Gold.

This is a dark, gorgeous re-telling of "Rumpelstiltskin," but it is also the tale re-shaped for a more modern setting: England at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The miller is a woman, and her worries are modern worries, such as debt and bankruptcy. Her mill keeps most of the village around it employed, and she wants to give her sister a good start in life. Worse, the mill, and her family, seem to be cursed. The characters, from the miller's family to the townspeople, are all interesting. I really liked and admired the hard-working miller and the bank representative who tries to help her. And this new Rumpelstiltskin is believable and scary. As I approached the end of the book, I was praying that everything would turn out well, and I wasn't sure if the writer could pull it off! If you like Libba Bray and Melissa Marr, I think you will love this book!

Charlotte Miller is a young girl who just lost her father. She and her younger sister, Rosie, have just inherited the mill that has been in their family for generations. As far as Charlotte can remember their have been whispers of strange goings on at the mill, and likewise to he Miller family, that have been attributed to a curse. Charlotte finds this notion ridiculous and turns her nose up at the townspeople's more superstitious notions, but when events get more dire she begins to give the rumors a bit of credence, particularly so when an eldritch young man shows up at her door offering his services. Part mystery, part fairy tale, part ghost story this ingenious retelling of "Rumplestiltskin" will have readers stunned from the word go. Bunce has certainly done her research with the workings of mills and the people from this period in history. The result is a strikingly written story that will have it's readers wondering what happened to the characters long after the close of the book. I enjoyed this story far more than I thought I would, and will highly recommend it in the future.

Since her father's death, the fate of the Miller family woolen mill and that of the Shearing village rests on Charlotte's shoulders. An unexpected and seemingly insurmountable debt leads to a difficult choice for the normally practical and levelheaded miller's daughter. Must she take the offer of the strange little man who can weave straw into gold, or can she make her own way through the maze of ill luck and deceit that seems her family legacy? Elizabeth C. Bunce's A CURSE DARK AS GOLD is worth its own weight in gold and then some. A folkloric re-telling beyond Rumpelstiltskin proportions, this tale weaves the best storytelling techniques into a fine tapestry of intrigue, drama, and romance. The tight writing never wavers. Gorgeous, consistent language abounds, like, "I sank to my knees in a sea of crumpled flannel and pressed my hands into the sharp shale of the yard, as if bites from the stones could remind me of who I was." And just who is Charlotte Miller? Certainly one of the most fascinating characters I've come across of late. If not self-confident at the beginning of our story, she is at least confident in what she knows: the mill cannot go under and the families of Shearing cannot be allowed to starve or scatter to the winds. As she is the only one around to prevent these happenings, Charlotte will do what she must to prevent them. And so she does. As time goes on, and with Pinchfields Mill of Harrowgate nipping at her heels, Charlotte's choices become ever more difficult and the stakes are raised as she struggles through crisis after crisis. Charlotte's resolve to dismiss the very idea of the Miller Curse crumbles into a pile of wasted wishes as the harsh reality of the unreal comes to be. She is forced to play the hand that's dealt, facing sinister forces she once easily dismissed. A strong protagonist indeed. Every word counts in this amazing book. The language, while assuredly stunning and appealing, is never frivolous. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel, and I eagerly await whatever Ms. Bunce wishes to put in front of me next, as it's sure to be delightful and satisfying if it's near the quality of A CURSE DARK AS GOLD. It's only fitting that this novel be recommended for the Gold Star Award for Excellence and admittance to the TeensReadToo Hall of Fame. Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince