The Clever Mill Horse

CMH #1

by Jodi Lew-Smith

A young woman’s gift could weave together the fabric of a nation...

1810, upstate New York. 21-year-old Ella Kenyon is happiest gliding through the thick woods around her small frontier town, knife in hand, her sharp eyes tracking game. A gift for engineering is in her blood, but she would gladly trade it for more time in the forest. If only her grandfather's dying wish hadn't trapped her into a fight she never wanted.

Six years ago, Ella's grandfather made her vow to finish his life's work: a flax-milling machine that has the potential to rescue her mother, brother, and sister from the brutality of life with her drunkard father. The copious linen it yields could save her struggling town, subjugate the growing grip of southern cotton. Or it could be Ella's downfall.

Making the machine work is only the beginning. Fulfilling her promise will take her from the hills of Iroquois country through the rough iron towns of the Pine Barrens, the sophisticated streets of Philadelphia, and to Washington City, a capitol younger—and wilder—than Ella herself. Now she must find the one man who can protect her design—and her family—from the pirates at her heels, ready to steal everything she's achieved. And if she's not quick enough, not clever enough to succeed, more than her own life rests in the balance...

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2014

About the author

Jodi Lew-Smith lives on a farm in northern Vermont with her patient husband, three wonderfully impatient children, a bevy of pets and farm animals, and 250 exceedingly patient apple trees which, if they could talk, would suggest that she stop writing and start pruning. Luckily they’re pretty quiet.

Reviews

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I love historical fiction featuring strong women and the idea of a woman engineer in this time period--the days of slavery and horses and carriages and Native Americans not yet conquered to the point of near extinction--just really appealed to me.

The book got a rocky start. Though the heroine is an inventor, she prefers to spend her days roaming the forest tracking and hunting. Those scenes bored me to pieces. It's not something that interests me at all. On top of that, there was an entire repeated scene and incorrect then and thans. This could be the mobi file I was provided for the tour.

I hung in there, fully aware that review copies contain glitches and while I am pleased that the editing greatly improved, the story didn't. It's a historical fiction, don't get me wrong, but it felt more like a girl's adventure story. There were simply too many things I found preposterous. This young woman, for example, running around with her siblings and an Indian, wearing pants, just riding all over the country. She doesn't even have a chaperone half the time. She's a young woman who races boys like a fourteen-year-old. Her character never acts the same age. It's unclear. One minute she acts like a child. The next she's a grown woman trying to get a patent. I love women who defied society, but it must be believable and this just wasn't. The most believable character for the time period was her mother, a woman who felt she had to stay with an abusive man. Every other character was doing things or behaving in a manner that had me raising eyebrows considering the time period they were in. I mean, young while girls were not permitted to run around with grown Native American men, let alone travel the country with them.

The aunt and her Native lover... her grandfather's faked death. How easily her and Zeke steal her horse back. Seriously? I could go on but I choose not to.

And the story also went all over the place. It felt like in the end, the invention and her being an engineer were only just a very small part. We follow her on her trek as she meets people and they share their stories of war and whatever. She just keeps getting sidetracked by slaves, groups of Indians, card-playing tavern girls, on her journey and this means the story itself was constantly sidetracked.

Full review: http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2014/...

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jodi Lew-Smith's historical novel The Clever Mill Horse piqued my interest when I first read the synopsis. A young heroine who is equally comfortable throwing a knife and inventing machines? Well, ok, that got my attention. I love strong female characters, and a novel centered on a young woman's invention in the early nineteenth century sounded unusual enough for me to give it a try.

And I enjoyed the book overall. The Clever Mill Horse read, in my opinion, like a Young Adult novel, although it doesn't seem to have been marketed that way. But I think many teens and other YA readers would find it appealing, with its adventurous plot, hint of romance, and intelligent, headstrong, Katniss Everdeen-style heroine. I'm a former American history teacher, and I'm always on the lookout for books that can entice young readers into learning more about periods in the past which may seem . . well, a tad dry (gasp!) in the classroom.

The Clever Mill Horse, fortunately, is anything but dry. Lew-Smith packs a lot of plot into her story of Ella Kenyon's flax-milling machine: kidnapping, horse-theft, fire, blackmail, and a drunk and violent father, for starters. And that's not even including the forbidden love between a Native American man and white woman, a dark and long-suppressed secret about Ella's parentage, and the lesbian who can never share the truth about herself and her desires.

At times, all of that added up to perhaps a little TOO much action and adventure for me, when I might have wished for deeper character development or more about the flax machine itself and how it could have changed early American society. But YA readers who appreciate a plot-driven novel will find much here to keep them turning the pages and, I hope, might encourage them to read more about the early years of the new American republic.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for participation in a blog tour on Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

[Stefanie Krantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book! It captured my attention right from the beginning and I was swept up by the story. I kept reading late at night to see what would happen next. It is a mystery set in the early 1800's about the development of the flax-milling machine. The story grabs your attention with a web of family relationships,Native American culture and detailed descriptions of nature and botanical medicine. I can't wait for the sequel. I highly recommend this book.

[MaryMargaret Ragno · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read; good story about a coming-of-age young woman with engineering skills and a strong and supportive grand-dad. Valuable historical background. For me, a luke-warm and disappointing finish - but a tantalizing hint that there's more good words to come.

[Erin Al-Mehairi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first wanted to read The Clever Mill Horse because I love history of the 1800s and have some strange obsession with mills and grist mills (might be in my blood, my great x6 grandfather owned a mill). As well, I like weaving and textiles and all those old sorts of professions and inventions. I enjoyed Jodi's foreword quite a bit about the flax vs. cotton mill and the history and I thought it was going to be a wonderful read about inventing the flax-mill and how it worked and changed society.

Though I don't think that initial wish came true, there was still much in the book to be enjoyed. I did hope that it would have an independent and incorrigible female protagonist that was determined and defied the odds. Check! It did. That was clear right from the start with Ella and carried on throughout the book, as she gave us a well-rounded, intelligent, and feisty female that the rest of us can all admire. That was her best formed character, followed by Aunt Lucille, the Native American from the Oneida tribe named Pete, and Jenny, Ella's sister. I also enjoyed the antagonist, Emerston, as he was conniving, manipulative, and wholly dimensional. I felt those characters were the best done and those are the ones I'd remember as the stars of the book. At first I wasn't sure that any of her characters would be memorable like Ella, and almost found them flat or surface in the beginning, but by halfway in, she proved me wrong as the other characters began to show themselves. I was glad to see so many strong female characters in this book.

I have to admit when I started the book I wondered where it was going and if it was reading like a middle reader more than a novel. It was slow to start and I wondered if I'd want to read it. However, eventually it picked up so if you read it and think this, don't give up on it. I saw at least by chapter four that there was suspense, a mystery, clues, and much more just beyond the innovation of a flax-mill, which really took a back seat to the family and town drama as the story becomes more a journey of the soul of Ella as she discovers her worth and purpose.

Though I was unsure of the jilted English language she presented Pete to have as a Native American, I did admire her treatment of the Native Americans in the story, the historical background and tribe background, and how she presented him as loving, gentle, kind, and giving and had him incorporate into their lives. She was sympathetic to the Native American plight and their assimilation with white settlers who took their homes and land. I enjoyed the forbidden romance he was involved in and her gentle message to us that we shouldn't discriminate, especially in love.

As an advocate for domestic violence, I hated that Ella's mother did not leave Ella's father, her abuser, and it was hard to read some of the sections for me, but I understood her character's claim as in that time period life was hard for anyone, let alone a single woman. Those sections in the plot was very sad and emotional. Her characterization of the abuser and the abused was remarkable. She dealt with many other raw and human issues in her book too, but I don't want to give all the surprises away.

Overall, I really liked the suspense, the journey/adventure they ended up going on during the second half of the novel, how several of the characters showed great growth and courage, the mysteries (that's where the horse in the title comes in too), and the pioneer intrigue. There were plenty of surprises, secrets, reveals, and drama. It was clean enough (no sex, bad words, etc.) that I would be able to let my teenager read it and I like that about it too.

The novel's plot and theme reminded me some of the writer Elizabeth Camden (that's high praise, she is a wonderful author who writes these types of historical suspense, features strong female leads, and has hints of clean romance). Now what Jodi needs to do with her potential is to practice her craft and hone in on her sentences, her dialogue, and her focus. She is a great plot weaver and I look forward to seeing her grow her writing skills.

For her first novel, Jodi shows promise as a real storyteller that knows how to funnel the sensitivities of human emotions, the trials of life, the power of the female, and lessons learned messages. She was able to mix that with a plot full of suspense, drama, and mystery, in order to create an entertaining historical read that showed how one young girl could overcome any odds. I look forward to reading the next novel in the series!

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own on www.hookofabook.wordpress.com.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1810 twenty-one year old Ella Kenyon needs to keep her promise to her grandfather and finish designing the first flax mill to strip raw flax into the silky fiber used to weave linen. The invention will provide for her family and assure the entire town of Debroahville in Upstate New York steady employment. But can she trust the man who wants to help her file her patent? The path to Washington, DC is fraught with danger. Just when her dream seems within grasp Ella must make the ultimate decision between familial love and success and fame.

The Clever Mill Horse is historical fiction, a mystery, and a melodrama romance. Jodi Lew-Smith has done impeccable historical research into the places, times, and material culture of 1804-11. I was interested to follow Ella and her companions as they travel down the Susquehanna River to Wilkes Barre, into the Pocono Mountains, down the Delaware River to Camden, to the New Jersey Pine Barrens, to Glassboro, into Philadelphia, and finally to Washington City where President Madison was in office and the Superintendent of Patents Latrobe was designing the Capital building. Having lived in and around Philadelphia these are all familiar places to me.

The story is full of action, suspense, and horrible events. The early part of the novel reads like a book for younger readers, but things turn very dark and Ella suffers kidnapping and physical abuse that gives the book a PG13 rating. Yet I think the story would appeal to many readers.

The first law of writing is "show, not tell." I was frustrated by pages and pages of being told, the author missing opportunities for action. Like many mysteries, one reason why most don't appeal to me, someone has to explain the whole background story to clear up the unknown. Much of the character insight is through long passages of being told their thoughts.

Strong women characters with masculine activities or abilities are trendy right now, the Action Hero Warrior Woman showing up in film, television and movies. I do have trouble with such characters placed in historical settings where they are not 'probable.' The characters act like 21st century thinkers. Some historical fiction captures the time and place with characters that are of that time. As I am finding, some uses the historical setting but tell a more modern tale.

And yet the story does not read modern. The 'Perils of Pauline' aspect of Ella's journey was too much for my taste. Many will love the roller coaster ride of twists and turns. I personally like something deep and transformative to happen as the character grows and struggles with a problem.

The author is horticulturist with a lifelong interest in books and writing. The Clever Mill Horse is the first book about Ella's adventures. Read more about Jodie Lew-Smith at http://jodilewsmith.com

I received an e-book copy of The Clever Mill Horse through NetGalley and Caspian Press for a fair review.

[Richard Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Clever Mill Horse is initially an intriguing and endearing look at the life of young women in small towns in upstate New York in the early 1800s. A major backdrop is provided as Britain's behavior on the high seas moves the young Nation towards a new war. Author Lew-Smith drew me in with mentions of specific places I had traveled through and Iroquois traditions which I've always had an interest in. After only a couple of chapters though I was really connected with the characters' struggles. The story of siblings and friends is contrasted by the emotional and interpersonal damage done in an abusive household. Some of the cuts run deeper than expected. Siblings partially estranged renew their connections as they fight to preserve the legacy of their grandfather and their oldest sister.

Ella is an awkward girl according to the standards of feminine behavior of the times, She feels more at home in the forest than in her own home, but she is as smart as a steel trap and has a spark of creative genius when it comes to machine engineering. She becomes her grandfather's right arm at his mill and forge due to her uncommon abilities deciphering problems. But not all. Her knowledge of her own heart is incomplete among other things. She and her siblings are put to a difficult test beginning with a deadly confrontation with horse thieves. This fight involving several players has wide spreading and unexpected results. When repeated violence finally takes its ugly toll, the sense of duty they feel to the family and to each other elevates a journey they must make, to an adventure.

Through several surprise turns and twists, shifting loyalties and even questions of their own bloodlines, the siblings have few faithful allies. Still family must prevail, no matter "who" that might mean. For me, this was a real page turner with taut, well-conceived pacing but still enough narrative to get a solid feel for the settings. The characters are especially well-crafted. I'd highly recommend it to any reader of historical romance and especially to anyone who lives in the Northeastern states. The Clever Mill Horse makes an outstanding start of a new series and I'm primed to anxiously await Jodi Lew-Smith's next book.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful entertainment! The book had me creating time to read, wishing to get back to it often. Ella is a non-girly girl, learning the ways of the woods, engineering and self protection from her grandfather and a native American. Her mother and two younger siblings endure abuse from a constantly drunken father but he learns to leave Ella alone. The grandfather exacts a promise for Ella to continue his work should he die before it's done -- the invention of a flax milling machine. The fabric of the time was flax for clothing and soft goods, however extracting usable fibers was a laborious process. A machine that could simplify the process would be a marvel and make the inventor wealthy.

In Ella's small town are relatives, friends, and people that have grown up together for generations. People are not always who they seem. Someone wants to steal the flax machine design with patent under his own name and has the means to do so. Then the adventure commences and doesn't release the reader until the end of the book. No wait. Not then either. The author has left the door wide open for sequels.

After many harrowing months of near-death experiences and unexpected turns in fortune, not to mention Ella's young adult character working out who people really are and aren't, stray ends are knitted together nicely, if not in a wholly satisfying way. Ella has unusual courage for a young female of her time, through unusual access and freedoms to explore her world. We see her grow through each adventure and experience, learning.

I think the title is too abstract, although I see the correlation loosely. This is not a book about a horse, although there are a number of horses in it. The book is about a family, a feisty brave young lady, and the history of the time. It's about the freedoms women did not have. It's a compelling story and I look forward to the sequel. I hope the author will be cognizant of not making scenes too coincidental so as to be unbelievable. A couple near the end bordered on this for me, however, so do some of the stories in the newspaper every day.

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ella Kenyon, a strong-willed young woman, struggles against harsh odds and devious men to fulfill her grandfather’s dream and learns much about herself as well as her companions and enemies.

I love a good quest novel, and this debut work set early in the 19th century in the eastern United States has much to offer.

The plot centers on a promise Ella made to her grandfather to perfect and patent a flax-milling machine which has potential to rescue her mother and siblings from dependence on a drunkard father.

The value of this machine is recognized by a greedy local businessman who sets in motion a plan to pirate the machine for himself. To achieve his ends, a hired band of criminals stalks Ella, her sister and friends as they trek toward Philadelphia and Washington.

There are numerous adventures along the way, including encounters with the bandits, a forest fire, an epidemic that nearly claims the life of Ella’s sister, and Ella’s kidnap and torture in Philadelphia.

Some may question the plausibility of a woman being entrusted with this task in a time when women had limited rights. But history shows there were many plucky females like Ella who did achieve despite great odds. One example was a widow in my area of Pennsylvania who took over a foundry after her husband was killed by Indians and manufactured rifle barrels used in the Revolution.

Ella is an admirable heroine and the other characters are equally well-drawn, particularly her aunt Lucille, who harbors some secrets of her own. In addition, the novel offers plenty of twists, drama, humor and even a few love stories.

I was pleased to learn this novel is the first of a projected series. I look forward to more of Ella’s adventures.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1700's, most Americans relied upon linen for their everyday textile needs; cotton had to be imported and was costly enough to be considered a luxury fabric. By 1830, however, the invention of an efficient cotton gin and the emergence of Southern cotton plantations led to a reversal in that state of affairs. But what if an efficient flax gin had been invented first?

Jodi Lew-Smith has written a historical coming-of-age tale built around that question, set in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Ella Kenyon is an unusual young woman, one who feels more at home in the woods than the town. Her beloved grandfather, a blacksmith by trade, has helped her develop an unusual talent for engineering, and together they design a machine that can extract linen fibers from the plant. When her grandfather dies suddenly, Ella is determined to perfect and patent their flax gin. The Clever Mill Horse is the tale of her struggle to achieve that goal. On her long journey to Washington City, she must face countless obstacles, among them forest fires, horse thieves, accidents and illness, and unscrupulous lawyers. Before her journey ends, Ella will discover the truth about who she really is and why.

Ms. Lew-Smith fills her story with vibrant characters, vivid descriptions, and realistic dialog. Does Ella achieve her mission? Yes and no. Now that so many things in her young life have changed, in what direction will she head?

This book, the first in a promised series, is suitable for adults and young adults alike.

[Rachel Pollock]

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway when i won one of the copies offered.

Oh, y'all, I wanted to like this novel. I wanted to love it, in fact. Historical fiction about the industrialization of the textile industry, with a female engineer protagonist? Sign me up, i thought. I was on board, i was down.

But i just couldn't get into it. I tried so hard, and no dice. I read in the author's note that she thanked her editor for paring the book down from a much longer draft, and i feel like it could have been pared yet again several more times. The tone of the book felt almost Young Readers-y, in an old-school Laura Ingalls Wilder kind of way, except it felt like where a sentence or a paragraph might serve to propel the story forward, there were often pages and pages of minutia. Things that were supposed to be high drama felt stilted, and the stoic, inscrutable Native American character with mad fighting/tracking/blacksmithing skillz yet total ignorance of sentence grammar gave me a case of the put-this-downs. So i put it down.

On the upside, I'm going to take it to a secondhand bookstore, so perhaps it'll find its audience. It ain't me.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story with a strange premise. A girl's quest to patent a design for a flax machine.
I'm not quite sure what drew me to this story but I'm so glad I make the investment to try it.
This is a sweeping historical drama that involves a little mystery and some adventure.
I became so engrossed in these characters that I was terribly disappointed with the ending. Perhaps because it lacked a certain finality to it. Maybe it was simply that the story I enjoyed so much was over.
You are pulled into a stark and dreary landscape that mirrors the lives of these characters. Each one has their own demons to concur along the way. Some more than others.
This book moves at the pace of a plodding work horse, but the despair of the characters will keep you turning pages. Just reading this book made me feel cold. Cold like the surroundings and cold like the hearts of some characters.
This is a book about life, and it does a damn good job of making you feel like it is your own.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited to receive The Clever Mill Horse as a First Reads giveaway. I really enjoyed this book about a young girl who is working on a flax mill machine patent with her grandfather. It is set in the early 1800s, well before young women were recognized for inventing things. Ella faces many obstacles, many times on her own, in order to try to create the flax mill machine and then try to patent it. Travel was difficult at that time and the pace of the book is set by the amount of time it took to travel to larger cities from more rural areas. I enjoyed the characters and the many twists the story took as it developed. It seemed like Jodi Lew-Smith did a lot of research in order to create her story and it paid off. I felt like I had traveled back in time as I read the book. At the end of the book, it said End of Book One. I am excited to read future books by Jodi Lew-Smith!

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young woman in a small frontier town has spent her life perfecting a machine to process flax, a project she inhereted from her grandfather, who was killed unexpectedly when she was a child. The design is complete now, almost, and she must secure a patent on her design soon, before a crafty neighbor steals her design and patents it for himself. Set in the years leading up to 1812, this book is a great alternative to Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, one starring a young woman more skilled in woodcraft and engineering than most men her age.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and would love to see more books like this on the library's YA shelves, with strong, intelligent, realistic female protagonists, free from messy romantic triangles and with no vampires in sight.

(I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

[Mary Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a historical adventure featuring a great female character. I couldn't put it down.

The main character, Ella, is a complex, independent young woman who is feeling the burdens and responsibilities of becoming an adult. She has terrific adventures and interesting relationships with friends and family members. The author infuses a great sense of humor into her writing, making this an interesting and all around fun read.

[Jane Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read...a fascinating "what if" flax milling had overtaken cotton...how would that have effected American history? And the strong female character loves both nature AND engineering. Get this book now and read it...so you are ready for the next book in the series which is in the works.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good!I love reading books from the 1800s' and this took place in 1810.The main character is a 21 year old woman named Ella who is a very strong and determined person.She stuggles to get her and her Grandpas' flax mill machine patented and has to deal with a lot of dishonest people and believes that her Grandpa was murdered.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun historical fiction.

[Donna Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very detailed historical fiction story to read.