The Weaver's Daughter
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Kate’s loyalties bind her to the past. Henry’s compel him to strive for a better future. In a landscape torn between tradition and vision, can two souls find the strength to overcome their preconceptions?
Loyalty has been at the heart of the Dearborne family for as long as Kate can remember, but a war is brewing in their small village, one that has the power to rip families asunder–including her own. As misguided actions are brought to light, she learns how deep her father’s pride and bitterness run, and she begins to wonder if her loyalty is well-placed.
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 embraces his grandfather’s plans to modernize the family’s wool mill, ignoring the grumblings from local weavers. When tragedy strikes shortly after his arrival, Henry must sort truth from suspicion if he is to protect his family’s livelihood and legacy.
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, blurring the jagged lines between loyalty, justice, and truth. Kate ultimately finds herself with a powerful decision that will forever affect her village’s future. As unlikely adversaries, Henry and Kate must come together to find a way to create peace for their families, their village, and their souls—even if it means risking their hearts in the process.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This unwieldy historical novel from Ladd (The Heiress of Winterwood) personalizes the struggles of the working class during the Industrial Revolution. Kate Dearborn is the daughter of a proud and stubborn weaver, Silas Dearborn, who wants to maintain his way of life at any cost. Henry Stockton is the grandson of William Stockton, owner of Stockton Mill, despised by weavers because his modernized mills produce wool that rivals their own. As Stockton Mill begins to affect the profits of the traditional weavers, mysterious machine failures begin to pop up. While Kate and Henry are initially distrustful of each other, they soon learn to see the situation from each other's point of view. Their relationship is complicated by William Stockton's hope that Henry will marry Frederica Pennington, Kate's former best friend. Deception and mayhem abound as the tension between the mill owners and weavers spirals out of control. Arthur Pennington, Frederica's father, was once Silas's partner but is now helping Stockton, and Kate's brother, Charles, decides to join forces with the Stocktons. These defections weigh heavily on Silas, and Kate, too, is soon forced to choose between her father and Henry. While the plotting is predictable and characters tend to appear at rather fortuitous moments, Ladd inserts enough action to keep things entertaining until the end.
