Customer Reviews

The Blacksmith's Daughter: A Mystery of the American Revolution

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Suzanne Adair follows up her award-winning debut with another, subtler, high-stakes adventure tale.

Set against the backdrop of the American Revolution, The Blacksmith's Daughter is the story of seventeen-year-old Betsy Sheridan, a neutral who can't help getting involved in rebel intrigues. Happily married to a successful cobbler, Betsey is pregnant with her first child when her seemingly-perfect life starts to fall apart.

Her uncle and both her parents are on the run after being incorrectly labeled as rebel spies. Betsey is implicated in their activities when her uncle drops by to assure her of their safety. With British officers of her case, Betsey discovers that her husband has been keeping secrets from her and, though posing as a loyalist, is involved in a rebel spy ring. When her house is first vandalized and then burned to the ground, Betsey realizes how tenuous her safety in Camden is. Knowing that she must do whatever it takes to keep her unborn child safe, Betsey is determined to leave town. Torn between a desire to reunite with her parents and her duty to her husband, it seems like there are no simple decisions in this time of war.

Filled with adventure, romance, and abundant historical detail, The Blacksmith's Daughter is a page-turner. What sets it apart from most historical thrillers, however, is its cast of substantive characters. Protagonist Betsey is sympathetic, if a bit impetuous. The secondary characters--from the villainous Lieutenant Fairfax to minor actor Josiah Carter--are all carefully drawn and fully realized. Additionally Adair puts her novel in context with a historical afterword and bibliography.


While The Blacksmith's Daughter follows Adair's first novel, Paper Woman, it does stand on its own. Paper Woman takes place immediately before the action of The Blacksmith's Daughter, but it focuses on Betsy's mother Sophie Barton, who is only a minor character in The Blacksmith's Daughter. The novels are also written in such a way that if readers encounter the second novel first, they can go back and enjoy Paper Woman without fear of knowing too much about the plot of the first novel.


Suzanne Adair is a colonial and Revolutionary War reenactor. Her first novel, Paper Woman, won the 2007 Patrick D. Smith Literature Award, given by the Florida Historical Society.

Beautifully written, exceptionally well researched, Suzanne Adair's book will transport you to a time in our history that was more dangerous and exciting than anything you learned in history class. We get to see a tumultuous time in our history from the point of view of the people who lived it. A great tale with sympathetic characters and a heart-stopping villain. Couldn't put this book down!

I love Suzanne Adair's series. I've read both books, can't wait for the third. In this book, Betsy, the heroine, is pregnant and fighting to stay alive and out of harm's way as she searches for members of her family. Facinating read and Adair has her history down pat! Excellent read, highly recommended.

Once again Ms. Adair has made it possible for me to step into the past and enter the world of her story with her writing--and that is my kind of book!!!

I read this as voraciously as I did Paper Woman and enjoyed it just as much. I hated for it to end, but then that just made me all the more ready to join her characters in the next installment!

Betsy is someone I would probably have been if I lived in that time--headstrong, brave and hell bent on her mission.

I don't want to give the story away, but the readers of Paper Woman will find `old friends' and `old enemies' as well as new ones in this continuing saga. I love how this book parallels the story in Paper Woman. It makes it seem all the more real to the reader in my opinion.

I rolled my eyes when nemesis Lt. Fairfax (ugh!!!)showed up again...but even he, with his black heart gives the story the zest to entice you reading on! His unending 'bag of dirty tricks' boggles the mind--but I have to say he is a very good swordsman!

Once again Ms. Adiar, I send up a HUZZAH! for your talents!
Deborah Rosenkrans, aka Cody Lee of the author C.C.Colee

Blacksmith's Daughter, a Novel of the American Revolution, by Suzanne Adair, was a delightful surprise as its tale took unexpected twists and turns. Set in frontier villages and towns of South Carolina and Georgia, it gives us a glimpse of how everyday common folk had to make do under British rule in time of war. This well-researched account of spies and neighbors divided tells of a young woman's journey to find safety for the babe in her womb.
The writing style, plot development and attention to detail can be compared to that of Diana Gabaldon, so it's a treat for Ms. Gabaldon's fans. It's the type of book you just don't want to end and hope another one will come out soon.

The second book in Suzanne Adair's Revolutionary War series features Betsy Sheridan, daughter to Sophie Barton, the main character in her first book, PAPER WOMAN. Seventeen-year-old Betsy is pregnant and married to Clark Sheridan, a successful cobbler and avowed Loyalist. Although Betsy is a neutral, her parents have been branded spies by the British and are in hiding. When Betsy finds a coded message in one of Clark's boots and witnesses a mysterious meeting between her husband and a Spaniard, she begins to suspect he, too, may be a spy for the rebels. But Betsy is loyal to Clark and holds her tongue. Shortly thereafter, their house is burned to the ground and her husband disappears. Betsy, aware that the British now suspect her of treason, intends to find Clark with the help of his apprentice Tom Alexander before joining her parents. Not far behind is Lieutenant Dunstan Fairfax, who wants nothing more than to find Sophie Barton, and he'll do anything, including murder, to get to her.

THE BLACKSMITH'S DAUGHTER is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end. Adair holds the reader enthralled with constant action, spine-tingling suspense, and superb characterization, all wrapped within historical fact. She conveys the tense conflict between the Loyalists and Rebels, and the danger of being either one, in an exceptional and thought-provoking manner. This is one book the reader will not want to put down.

THE BLACKSMITH'S DAUGHTER is the second book in Suzanne Adair's Revolutionary War series. Sophie Barton was the main character in PAPER WOMAN, and her daughter Betsy Sheridan is featured in book two. It is 1780 and seventeen-year-old Betsy is pregnant when she begins to suspect her husband is spying for the patriots. Her parents, grandfather, and uncle are already in hiding or on the run as suspected spies and British Lieutenant Fairfax, thwarted by her relatives, confronts Betsy at every turn. She is trying to keep the activities of her various family members secret from Fairfax while working to locate them so she can be reunited with them.

But Betsy is an innocent in this political intrigue and she first has to learn who the players are. There is danger for her and her unborn child around every corner and she has to be on her guard at all times if they are going to survive.

This book is not a traditional mystery, but it is a fantastic read. Instead of figuring out whodunit, you spent much of the book trying to unravel the complex motivations and hidden agendas of the different characters. Who is working for the crown and who for the rebels? And can you trust any of them?

One of the most interesting aspects of this book (aside from the wonderful historical detail) is the way that Adair communicates to the reader the tremendous amount of stress that people living during the American Revolution must have lived with. When your own country is torn apart by war and the front line could well be in your front yard, no one is safe. Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person can get you - and your entire family - killed. As you read this book, you really get the feeling of insecurity and of not knowing upon whom you can rely. While I might find this stress unpleasant in a completely fiction book, I find it gives me a better sense of the time in a fact-based historical fiction work.

Favorite character? Probably Betsy. Will I read another? Absolutely. I found both of these books to be page-turners.

Suzanne Adair's second book in her series about a family of strong women in the American Revolution is a winner. She has taken some not-so-familiar history of the Carolinas' involvement in the war, and wound a story of rebel spies and intrigue. Mixed with the evil Redcoat Lt. Fairfax and other characters from the first novel, Paper Woman, she tells the story of Betsy Sheridan. a 17-year-old pregnant wife of Clark Sheridan, a small-town cobbler.

Betsy's mother Sophia, along with her uncle and her half-Indian father, are reputed to be rebel spies and have escaped from the hands of Lt. Fairfax. They are rumored to be hiding with the lower Creek Indian tribe.

Based on things she finds, she suspects her husband Clark is also involved in some secret goings on. Betsy herself is innocent of wrongdoing and is concerned for her unborn child. She claims to be a neutral in the war, but at every turn she is suspected of helping her mother and the others that have escaped Lt. Fairfax.

Clark admits to Betsy he is involved and leaves her to perform a mission for the rebels. She wants to believe that he loves her and is trying to get out of the web he has got himself into. Lt. Fairfax and others are suspecting she is involved so she takes a chance and decides to flee to the town where she thinks her husband has gone.

Clark's apprentice Tom is determined that she not go alone. They gather up supplies and a few other trusted people and set off. From then on the story is filled with ambushes and struggles as they find their way across wild country and face the continual threat of Lt. Fairfax and the Redcoats.

The book is filled with historical information about the Carolinas, the battles in the war and the men who fought them. Betsy gets herself out of jam after jam and makes the book a lively read.

Armchair Interview says: History and fiction combined to tell a great story.

This novel focuses on Spohie Barton's daughter Betsy.It occurs almost simultaneously with Paper Woman and plays out well, set against the Battle of Camden in 1780, with the return of Lt Fairfax and the introduction of the Ambrose Spy ring. Betsy cannot prevent being drawn into the intrigue and danger. A well writen and enjoyable work.

I was very pleased about the like new condition of this Suzanne Adair book. The
historical events incorporated into fiction are fascinating.