A Curse Dark as Gold

Charlotte Miller runs a woolen mill that keeps her small town alive, and she has never believed the stories about a curse on her family's business. Then her father dies, and trouble arrives all at once: workers leave, the debts cannot be paid, and an overbearing uncle moves in on the family's affairs.

A stranger named Jack Spinner offers a way out. He can spin straw into gold thread, and his price is her mother's ring. Charlotte accepts, and each bargain with him pulls her further in. Meanwhile a romance develops between her and the local banker.

The book is a fairy tale in the Rumpelstiltskin mold, with a mystery and a family story running through it. Charlotte has to work out what the curse on the mill really is, and the answer decides whether the town she has always called home survives.

The setting is a close community built around one mill, and the tone mixes folk-tale atmosphere with the slow uncovering of secrets. Romance is part of the plot but sits beside the mystery rather than leading it. It is a young adult novel and won the ALA's William C. Morris YA Debut Award.