A Curse Dark as Gold [Hardcover]

Elizabeth C. Bunce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

This ravishing winner of the ALA's William C. Morris YA Debut Award is a fairy tale, spun with a mystery, woven with a family story, and shot through with romance.

Charlotte Miller has always scoffed at talk of a curse on her family's woolen mill, which holds her beloved small town together. But after her father's death, the bad luck piles up: departing workers, impossible debts, an overbearing uncle. Then a stranger named Jack Spinner offers a tempting proposition: He can turn straw into gold thread, for the small price of her mother's ring. As Charlotte is drawn deeper into her bargains with Spinner-and a romance with the local banker-she must unravel the truth of the curse on the mill and save the community she's always called home.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—Too stubborn to let go of the troubled mill that has supported her community for generations, Charlotte Miller takes over after her father's death, fighting impending disaster with bargains with a mysterious Jack Spinner that eventually threaten her infant son. Set in a rural valley in the late 1700s, this reworking of the "Rumplestiltskin" story includes ghosts, witchcraft, elements of Georgian society, and much earlier folk magic in the guise of a novel of manners. The leisurely paced narrative gathers steam as it becomes clear that the family and the mill have not simply had a long run of bad luck, but are seriously cursed. Readers need not be familiar with the folktale to see where Charlotte's efforts to save her mill are headed. Though their roles in the narrative are clear, secondary characters are distinctive: foppish Uncle Wheeler is more than a stereotyped villain, and Charlotte's eventual husband is an admirable romantic lead with unsuspected talents. A rich opening to Jane Austen's world for teens.—Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD
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From Booklist

After her father’s death, Charlotte and her younger sister, Rosie, take over the family business, a mill shadowed by a curse that goes back generations. Charlotte gives little credence to superstition, but when they can’t pay the mortgage on the mill, Rosie conjures up Jack Spinner, an odd little man who promises them that he will spin a roomful of straw into gold—for a price. Despite an uncle who apparently wants to help the girls and a suitor who will do anything he can for Charlotte, her secret agreement with Spinner creates a vortex that threatens to destroy everything she holds dear. Set in England during the early days of the Industrial Revolution, the novel combines elements of fantasy and historical fiction with a love story between two strong-minded individuals. An appended author’s note comments on the setting and the Rumpelstiltskin motif. With an appealing title and eye-catching jacket art, this first novel will surely find its audience. Grades 7-10. --Carolyn Phelan

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Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books; First Edition edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439895766
• ISBN-13: 978-0439895767
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #763,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth C. Bunce is the author of A Curse Dark as Gold, which won the William C. Morris Award for a young adult debut novel and was named a Smithsonian Notable Book; and the Thief Errant series: StarCrossed, A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best book for 2010, and Liar's Moon, one of Kirkus Blog's Favorite YA Novels of 2011. StarCrossed and A Curse Dark as Gold have appeared on Oprah's Kid's Reading List. All three books have been named to the ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults list, and she is a three-time Kansas Notable Book winner. An accomplished needlewoman and historical costumer, Elizabeth lives in the Midwest with her husband, her dogs, and a boggart who steals books.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read! February 22, 2008

By Tamora Pierce

Format:Hardcover

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!

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too February 5, 2008

By TeensReadToo

Format:Hardcover

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

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerfully written February 15, 2008

By Karusichan

Format:Hardcover

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.