Book Review of "A Curse Dark as Gold"

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

The novel, A Curse Dark as Gold, takes place in Shearing, a small English village known for its textile industry in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. As one reads, the story starts to resemble Rumplestiltskin, but never makes you feel as if you are reading the same fairy tale. This novel reads more like historical fiction than fantasy. The characters and setting are well developed as the story is woven through the eyes of our protagonist, Charlotte Miller.

The details about the millwork, wool, and sheep are very convincing as we read further into the book. Although the location is fictional, one feels as if they can visualize each character and location. The valley is described with realistic people, dialect, businesses of the times, and towns that also sound as if they could be real enough to look up on a period map.

The names of the people in the story were equally interesting because they related to the jobs or the personality of the person or company, yet it was not so overdone to make one want to scoff and close the book. Charlotte Miller of course is a miller and our main character. She leads us through the story of village superstitions, as her skepticism slowly changes to acceptance of those things that are unexplainable. She generally chooses to be practical as she takes over the mill following her father’s death. This is unusual for a female during this time period. She discovers her father had done the best he could, but had also made some poor decisions that she needed to correct. Those decisions and her attempts to do right slowly entangle her in events that she can not control.

See if you can figure out where some of these names relate to the story: Uncle Wheeler, Mordant, Harte, Woodstone, Pinchfield, Stirwater, and Jack Spinner.

Enjoy the journey to another time while feeling a familiar sense of what might happen. You will be asking yourself questions as you read. This book is best suited to middle and high school students who are not uncomfortable with suggestions of magic and curses.

Check out a discussion between Elizabeth C. Bunce and her editor, Cheryl Klein,
from Klein's blog.

Reviewed by Robin Sowder, TC 2002