100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Ella has worked tirelessly with her grandfather to develop a working machine to mill flax.  When her grandfather is killed by a band of horse thieves, his dying wish is for Ella to finish the machine and secure the patents.  This turns out to be much harder than expected.  Ella's father is a drunk and routinely beats her mother and siblings, Ella has become their protector by learning knife throwing skills from a local Indian, Pete.  Also, some parts of the machine are wearing down quickly and Ella must engineer a way to decrease the friction before taking the design to the patent office; however, Emerston, another man in town has his eye on Ella's design and aims to patent the design for the flax mill before her. 

A grand historic adventure set in the 1800's weaving a story of the  why linen production, made from flax fiber, never overtook cotton.  I loved Ella's character, a young, female engineer in the 1800's who loved to be outdoors and could hunt, throw a knife and keep her wits about her in most situations.  Ella had many obstacles to overcome with the finalization of the flax mill and the race to the patent office.  The antagonist, Emerston was conniving and ruthless, I was amazed to see what he did to get the designs for the mill away from Ella. However, the adventure he led Ella and her companions on was fast-paced and exciting.  While there is plenty going on plot wise in the book, the most interesting struggle for me was Ella's internal struggle of finishing the machine or leading the life she wants.