The
Blacksmith’s Daughter
American Revolution Mystery, No 2
by Suzanne Adair
This is a story about a family during the Revolutionary and the trials and
tribulations that came from being involved in the major event that
brought about the revolution from England. Suzanne Adair has done
it again, another winner about the history of this country. This is
a follow-up to Paper Woman and the same family who helped in
the Revolution, as printers who delivered the news. I can’t say enough
about The Blacksmith’s Daughter (this current book) or for
that matter, Paper Woman. Both were stupendous, insightful
and thoroughly engrossing. History written in the fiction format is
usually well done with a very compelling storyline, but Ms. Adair
has a way with words and descriptions that makes the reader feel like
they are truly there in the middle of whatever is happening to her
characters. Ms. Adair is an award-winning (The Patrick D. Smith Award
for literature from the Florida Historical Society) writer from Raleigh,
N.C. who puts the reader right into the thick of the smoke and war
with the loyalists, patriots and redcoats.
The Blacksmith’s Daughter is Betsy Sheridan, a very pregnant seventeen-year-old woman married to Clark.
She’s the daughter of Paper Woman's Sophie Barton and Mathias Hale, a Creek Indian half-breed, who are on
the run, hiding in South Carolina from the British soldiers, and who took a very long journey to Cuba looking for
information. Betsy becomes involved because her husband is one of the rebels and they’re both trying to find and
locate her mother. Lieutenant Dunstan Fairfax is a brutal man who uses his position and office to apprehend
Clark, Betsy, and her mother Sophie, for whom he has a vendetta. He was once sweet on her, and she turned him
down only to turn to the Indians rather than follow his lead. She was trying to maintain neutrality so she could
report on the battles and occupation by the British. Fairfax has set traps for Betsy and Clark along the way to
Camden, GA from Alton, GA and tries his best to thwart any help or attempts to reconcile with her family along
the way. The Battle of Camden was a real event that led to the many other battles, and the eventual throwing off
of the British that let the Revolutionaries win American independence from the English throne and King George III.
Fairfax was a brutal redcoat and not one to trifle with, and Betsy learned that lesson very well.
I can’t wait to read the next book to find out what happened to both
Betsy and her mother Sophia. Ms. Adair is an excellent writer and
her way with words takes the reader right into the middle of old
Georgia with war going on all around them. It is historically accurate
and very enlightening. Great reading for anyone studying the history
of our nation.
American
Revolution Series
Paper
Woman, 1
The
Blacksmith’s Daughter, 2
Camp
Follower, 3 |
The
Book |
Whittler’s
Bench Press / an Imprint of Dram Tree Books |
September
2007 |
Paperback |
978-0978526535 |
Historical
suspense [Revolutionary War 1780] |
More
at Amazon.com |
NOTE: Not a shred of explicit language or context
that might offend anyone. All age groups can read. |
The
Reviewer |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf |
Reviewed
2007 |
NOTE: |
|