Sarah E. Ladd’s “The Weaver’s Daughter” is a delightful Regency-era retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” that weaves together romance with just a touch of suspense.
Amberdale is an 1812 British town that pits the weavers against the millers in a competitive cloth-making industry … and the two sides never mix. Kate Dearborne is the daughter of the town’s most influential weaver, a man who hates William Stockton, the man who owns Amberdale’s mill and who one day hopes to leave it to his grandson, Henry.
When Henry returns to town after fighting for three years on the Iberian Peninsula … and being presumed dead … Amberdale, and Kate’s life, is thrown in a major uproar.
As skirmishes between local mills and weavers keep growing in intensity, Kate and Henry keep crossing paths again and again. And as their feelings for one another keep building, they know they must overcome their families’ and towns people’s hatred for each other.
Ladd does a lovely job building the relationship between Kate and Henry, allowing for an ebb and flow to their emotions as they struggle between love and familial loyalty. She also gives them very real faults, as to make them relatable to the reader.
But she also has written more than just a romance, as “The Weaver’s Daughter” also has a touch of suspense sprinkled throughout — with a death, shootings, planned destructions, and mysterious leaders of the questionable activity.
“The Weaver’s Tale” also brings us some great themes in addition to the Shakespearean love story — reminding us of the battle we all face to overcome adversity, especially women; the necessity of finding our true role in life; the importance of how we choose to react to a situation; loyalty; and forgiveness.
Four and a half stars out of five.
Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.