A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
Reviewed by AngieRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Language: Around ten exclamations of deity. One use of “hell” and one use of “bastard” (used to refer to a child born out of wedlock.)
Violence: A wooden sign drops from above and hits a man on the head. He’s only slightly injured with a small trickle of blood seen coming from his head. A woman witnesses a cockfight. The losing cockerel is described as “a shredded and broken heap” and some of the spectators have blood on their clothes from the birds. A woman slaps her sister in the face. A fire breaks out at the mill and a body is found burnt in the ruins of the building. A man falls from a ladder and lands with his leg bent underneath him, breaking it badly. A woman witnesses a mob coming after a man with pitchforks, muskets and a rope. It’s implied that the man was hanged, but it is not described.
Sexual Content: A few brief kisses. The phrase “marriage bed” is used once. A man tells his new bride that she must not understand what the purpose of a honeymoon is. She then says that they missed both breakfast and lunch at the hotel on the first day of their honeymoon and that she now “understands why so many young wives produce children three-quarters of a year after their weddings.”
Adult Themes: Death is talked about a lot: A father dies peacefully. Two sisters talk about their mother who died many years ago while giving birth to their baby brother who also died. A young girl drowns in the river. A teenage boy is buried while digging a pit. A man dies in a fire. A curse is blamed for many young boys dying. Magic, curses, spells and superstitions. A few men drink throughout the book. A man is caught forging letters and documents. A few characters take a tour of a wool mill in a large city and find terrible working conditions, sickness and small children working there.
Synopsis
Charlotte Miller has inherited her father’s wool mill after he passes away, but the bad luck that seems to surround the mill grows. Charlotte and her sister, Rosie, struggle to keep the mill running despite the rumors about curses and whispers from the townsfolk about the strange goings-on at the mill. When a mysterious man shows up with the ability to spin straw into gold, he gives Charlotte the hope she needs to save the mill, but he may be asking too much in return. As Charlotte learns more about the curse that haunts the mill, she realizes that the man she’s put her trust in may be a bigger part of the trouble than she ever would have imagined.