The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd

The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd ISBN-13: 9780718011888 ebook: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson Released: April 10, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through BookLook.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Henry Stockton, heir to the Stockton fortune, returns home from three years at war seeking refuge from his haunting memories. Determined to bury the past, he works to modernize his family's wool mill, regardless of the grumblings from the local weavers.

Henry has been warned about the Dearborne family. Kate, too, has been advised to stay far away from the Stocktons, but chance meetings continue to bring her to Henry's side. But a war is brewing in their small village, one that has the power to rip families asunder --including her own.

When tragedy strikes shortly after his arrival, Henry must sort truth from suspicion if he is to protect his family's livelihood and legacy. As misguided actions are brought to light, Kate learns how deep her father's pride and bitterness run, and she begins to wonder if her loyalty is well-placed. Kate ultimately finds herself with the powerful decision that will forever affect her village's future.


My Review:
The Weaver's Daughter is a romance set in 1812 in Yorkshire, England. The heroine was the daughter of a man who made cloth using traditional weaving methods, and they're losing their livelihood to mill owners, like the hero's grandfather. Sounds exciting, except I quickly realized that I knew more about the conflict than the author did. It seemed merely an excuse for conflict (summary version: "You're threatening my livelihood...stop or we'll destroy things!" "If I stop, others will still build and run mills plus many people will be unemployed." "How unreasonable you are! We will make you pay.").

Unfortunately, I also felt that the characters were often illogical and inconsistent in their behavior. For example, a man who saved Henry's life in the war turned up asking for a job. Henry needed guards to protect his mill. But rather than have a loyal, military-trained guard, Henry gave him a mill worker's job even though he was warned this would upset the locals.

Also, the character's motives kept changing (and usually not because circumstances changed or anything). For example, we're initially told that Kate won't agree to marry John because she's not sure if he wants her or just her father's business (even though he says that he loves and respects her and values her knowledge). Then we're told it's because she doesn't want to be dependent on anyone; she wants to be in control of her fate and the business. Later, it's because she's always known that John's a deceiver and manipulator (and this charge came out of nowhere).

The characters also had modern sensibilities. For example, Henry was an ex-military leader and was prepared to lead some men to defend his mill against an attack. He had full legal right to kill anyone destroying his property. Yet he refused to fight and just let them destroy his property until someone aimed a gun at one of his workers. Despite the risk of missing (more so as the pistols of the time weren't very accurate), Henry aimed at the attacker's leg in hopes of shooting and stopping him. This was not the mindset of a military man of the time.

The story ended with Henry promising never-ending love to a woman because she filled the empty spaces in his soul and he felt peace in her presence. I would have expected a Christian book to point to God for this, but God didn't really show up in this story. There was no sex. The bad language was written in the "he cursed" style rather than the actual words.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.