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The Miller's Girl
Librarian note: older cover of B07226FKBL.
Once upon a time there was a foolish miller who claimed his daughter could spin straw into gold…
All Adela wants is to keep her family together, keep a roof over her brothers’ heads, put food on the table, and not draw attention to herself – for she’s no time for suitors.
But all that is shattered when she’s dragged from the village by a greedy king and ordered to spin straw into gold – or die. Suddenly life has become very dangerous, and which impending fate is worse – execution or a forced marriage to a mad, old king?
It will take faith, courage, and otherworldly help for Adela to outwit those who would destroy her and her loved ones. And a happy ending is something she can only hope for.
Once upon a time there was a foolish miller who claimed his daughter could spin straw into gold…
All Adela wants is to keep her family together, keep a roof over her brothers’ heads, put food on the table, and not draw attention to herself – for she’s no time for suitors.
But all that is shattered when she’s dragged from the village by a greedy king and ordered to spin straw into gold – or die. Suddenly life has become very dangerous, and which impending fate is worse – execution or a forced marriage to a mad, old king?
It will take faith, courage, and otherworldly help for Adela to outwit those who would destroy her and her loved ones. And a happy ending is something she can only hope for.
329 pages, ebook
First published April 16, 2017
71 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
About the author
Nina Clare
26 books111 followersWhen she’s not writing stories or thinking up stories or reading other people’s stories, Nina likes to paint and collage pictures, get taken for long walks by her adorable dogs, and cook all things plant-based. She also does other things, like office work, but that’s the boring bit. She lives very happily in rural Cornwall, England with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 14, 2022
2.5 stars
Adela is the daughter of the village miller. She has three brothers Lukas, Herbil, and Six. Her father is a drunk who spends all their money. Adela has several suitors after her, one being the bailiff who works for the king and collects their monthly fee. When the bailiff comes to collect, Adela outwits him with the terms of the contract between miller and king. They have two weeks to get the monthly fee along with the late fees as well.
Prince Johann has returned to govern in his father’s place. His father is slowly losing his mind. (My guess is dementia.)
I wasn’t really a fan of this story. I was kind of bored through most of it. About the 70% I just skimmed to the end and read the ending. It took a long time before the romance started and by then I wasn’t invested in either Adela or Johann.
Adela is the daughter of the village miller. She has three brothers Lukas, Herbil, and Six. Her father is a drunk who spends all their money. Adela has several suitors after her, one being the bailiff who works for the king and collects their monthly fee. When the bailiff comes to collect, Adela outwits him with the terms of the contract between miller and king. They have two weeks to get the monthly fee along with the late fees as well.
Prince Johann has returned to govern in his father’s place. His father is slowly losing his mind. (My guess is dementia.)
I wasn’t really a fan of this story. I was kind of bored through most of it. About the 70% I just skimmed to the end and read the ending. It took a long time before the romance started and by then I wasn’t invested in either Adela or Johann.
November 17, 2018
Very much enjoyed this one! I have only read two retellings of "Rumpekstiltskin," so this scratched the "want to read a fairytale retelling" itch while still seeming fresh and new to me. It was a pretty faithful retelling, only with a large cast of secondary characters. It reminded me a little bit of how the TV show Sechs auf einen Streich (or Grimm's Finest Fairy Tales, as it's known in English) interprets the tales.
I'm really interested in checking out the author's "King Thrushbeard" retelling now.
I'm really interested in checking out the author's "King Thrushbeard" retelling now.
October 29, 2021
I can't remember the last time I felt so mad finishing a book.
Like I can't even with this. I had the strongest urge multiple times to fling this across the room.
The romance is severely underdeveloped. Adela is basically a cat toy the whole book. She has no power over her own life. She's also horribly stupid.
Not only did she sleep with a guy knowing he was king and she would have to give away any child she had, but she showed hardly any concern the entire pregnancy for the upcoming babynapping. Terribly passive character.
And the ending for everyone was unsatisfying.
We don't even get ANY sort of conversation between Johann and Adela afterwards. Honestly they hardly talk to each other the whole time.
And no one can stop the cuckoo king cause he's the king. But Johann becomes king and is all oh my gold crazy dad wanted to start a war with another kingdom just because he wanted their good. I don't like that buuuut since he wanted it and got all think it's a great idea my hands are basically tied and let's do this.
The king kept forgetting about Adela too. They could've quietly sent her back to the village and he never would've noticed.
So many things. I really can't even. I wanted to love this. It started out with a lot of promise. But basically as soon as her dumbass father opens his drunken mouth(and tf she thinking sending him to get money for an important debt when she knows he always drinks it away) and she gets carted off it went downhill.
I'm so mad.
Like I can't even with this. I had the strongest urge multiple times to fling this across the room.
The romance is severely underdeveloped. Adela is basically a cat toy the whole book. She has no power over her own life. She's also horribly stupid.
Not only did she sleep with a guy knowing he was king and she would have to give away any child she had, but she showed hardly any concern the entire pregnancy for the upcoming babynapping. Terribly passive character.
And the ending for everyone was unsatisfying.
We don't even get ANY sort of conversation between Johann and Adela afterwards. Honestly they hardly talk to each other the whole time.
And no one can stop the cuckoo king cause he's the king. But Johann becomes king and is all oh my gold crazy dad wanted to start a war with another kingdom just because he wanted their good. I don't like that buuuut since he wanted it and got all think it's a great idea my hands are basically tied and let's do this.
The king kept forgetting about Adela too. They could've quietly sent her back to the village and he never would've noticed.
So many things. I really can't even. I wanted to love this. It started out with a lot of promise. But basically as soon as her dumbass father opens his drunken mouth(and tf she thinking sending him to get money for an important debt when she knows he always drinks it away) and she gets carted off it went downhill.
I'm so mad.
November 23, 2018
Wow! This book took me by surprise by being even better than expected. I loved it!
This is a retelling written in a lovely classical style and set in a beautifully conceived fantasy world. The characters are appealing from the opening pages, the romance is low key yet satisfying, and the villains are evil yet believable.
I loved the subtle magic and the way Adela, the heroine, finally breaks the curse. This retelling sticks close to the original story yet adds depth and originality.
I am eager to read more retellings by this talented author!
This is a retelling written in a lovely classical style and set in a beautifully conceived fantasy world. The characters are appealing from the opening pages, the romance is low key yet satisfying, and the villains are evil yet believable.
I loved the subtle magic and the way Adela, the heroine, finally breaks the curse. This retelling sticks close to the original story yet adds depth and originality.
I am eager to read more retellings by this talented author!
July 26, 2024
sweet, less common fairy tale
I haven’t read many (any?) Rumplestiltskin retellings so this was fun. It felt very classic, and didn’t twist the source material egregiously (I say, not really knowing the source material). I found a bit of the political plot confusing, but overall a very sweet version of the story.
I haven’t read many (any?) Rumplestiltskin retellings so this was fun. It felt very classic, and didn’t twist the source material egregiously (I say, not really knowing the source material). I found a bit of the political plot confusing, but overall a very sweet version of the story.
July 8, 2019
A good retelling, but lacking depth of personality
There's no deepening of the relationship between the miller's daughter and the prince, and even the miller's daughter's own personality isn't very consistent. It's not bad, but i wouldn't recommend it.
There's no deepening of the relationship between the miller's daughter and the prince, and even the miller's daughter's own personality isn't very consistent. It's not bad, but i wouldn't recommend it.
September 7, 2023
Content:
Language: None that I recall.
Violence: Mild. All the violence is threatened violence, or on a psychological level (like threatening to take a baby from Mom since this is Rumpelstiltskin).
Sexual: Mild. There are incredibly mild references to sexual relationships between married people, like a maid saying this newly married woman can't have her little brother sleep in her room because she's newly married. Also one scene where the married woman makes a decision to go to her new husband's room and then the scene ends. Also some kissing and hugs, jaw caresses and the like. All of it is pretty clean but doesn't avoid references to marital relationships.
CW: There is an alcoholic parent in this, it's an upsetting portrayal. He's not physically abusive, but his alcoholism causes his family to go without food and basic needs as he spends all the money on drink. There is also a parental portrayal of mental instability due to age (I'm assuming) and it looks a lot like Dementia/Alzheimer's (At one point this character takes all clothes off in public and it's disturbing how far gone he is). I struggled with both of these just because they caught me off guard, so here's the warning.
This book was oh so hard for me to get through. Don't get me wrong, it was well-written and plotted. I just really hated the father figures in this, which made the beginning incredibly difficult to slog through as my indignation grew with each scene with their children who suffered because of them. Then, as I kept reading, something else happened which I'm not a fan of, which is the characters took a second seat to the plot line.
Instead of a character growth/change arc, they were puppets to the timeline of events and just thrown into the mess of what was happening around them and reacting. It made it hard to connect to any of the characters as they felt distant and stiff to me as a reader. To say that I had to claw my way to the end of this book is an understatement. I thought about DNFing about a dozen times, but I was so close I kept telling myself it was too late to quit.
So, while it's written well, the plot-driven madness of this book along with the unnecessary cruelty of an addicted father for one MC and the other with destructive Alzheimer's (due to his freaking enabling servants/counselors) that just gut punched me, so I really did not like this book. At all. It was upsetting and I need a palate cleanser book now.
Language: None that I recall.
Violence: Mild. All the violence is threatened violence, or on a psychological level (like threatening to take a baby from Mom since this is Rumpelstiltskin).
Sexual: Mild. There are incredibly mild references to sexual relationships between married people, like a maid saying this newly married woman can't have her little brother sleep in her room because she's newly married. Also one scene where the married woman makes a decision to go to her new husband's room and then the scene ends. Also some kissing and hugs, jaw caresses and the like. All of it is pretty clean but doesn't avoid references to marital relationships.
CW: There is an alcoholic parent in this, it's an upsetting portrayal. He's not physically abusive, but his alcoholism causes his family to go without food and basic needs as he spends all the money on drink. There is also a parental portrayal of mental instability due to age (I'm assuming) and it looks a lot like Dementia/Alzheimer's (At one point this character takes all clothes off in public and it's disturbing how far gone he is). I struggled with both of these just because they caught me off guard, so here's the warning.
This book was oh so hard for me to get through. Don't get me wrong, it was well-written and plotted. I just really hated the father figures in this, which made the beginning incredibly difficult to slog through as my indignation grew with each scene with their children who suffered because of them. Then, as I kept reading, something else happened which I'm not a fan of, which is the characters took a second seat to the plot line.
Instead of a character growth/change arc, they were puppets to the timeline of events and just thrown into the mess of what was happening around them and reacting. It made it hard to connect to any of the characters as they felt distant and stiff to me as a reader. To say that I had to claw my way to the end of this book is an understatement. I thought about DNFing about a dozen times, but I was so close I kept telling myself it was too late to quit.
So, while it's written well, the plot-driven madness of this book along with the unnecessary cruelty of an addicted father for one MC and the other with destructive Alzheimer's (due to his freaking enabling servants/counselors) that just gut punched me, so I really did not like this book. At all. It was upsetting and I need a palate cleanser book now.
November 7, 2018
As a lover of fairy tale retellings, this one checked all the boxes for me. It follows the line of the original tale without feeling tired. Nina Clare does a great job fleshing out and filling in all the details that a short story just can't handle. I loved the complex relationship between the miller and his daughter in this one. And I really liked the inclusion of the white hart into this tale!
October 30, 2019
A heart felt retelling
I found the story plausible full stop the beginning was a little painful to read with the untrustworthy parent drinking away all of the resources of the Miller's children and that was quite unpleasant. However as a story unfolded I was drawn into the world and I found it quite enthralling
I found the story plausible full stop the beginning was a little painful to read with the untrustworthy parent drinking away all of the resources of the Miller's children and that was quite unpleasant. However as a story unfolded I was drawn into the world and I found it quite enthralling
July 4, 2023
good but rushed ending
This was a good retelling but the ending was very rushed and left me disappointed. Not in what happened but in the way it was written. It was like the author had a word limit and realised they didn’t have enough words left to finish the story. So they just told you what happened in as few words as possible. I would have given more stars if not for this.
This was a good retelling but the ending was very rushed and left me disappointed. Not in what happened but in the way it was written. It was like the author had a word limit and realised they didn’t have enough words left to finish the story. So they just told you what happened in as few words as possible. I would have given more stars if not for this.
July 7, 2019
Nina Clare is a new author discover for me and I've loved each of her books. The retelling here is an interesting reworking of the familiar Rumpelstiltskin story and framed in a way that gives more depth to the characters & situation.
September 17, 2017
Well done
A well done retelling of the Rumplestilskin story from the point of view of the Miller's daughter. I love fairy tales.
A well done retelling of the Rumplestilskin story from the point of view of the Miller's daughter. I love fairy tales.
November 1, 2018
Great book
January 10, 2019
Thank you
This book was awesome. I could not put it down. I love this story anyways, but it was awesome to read
This book was awesome. I could not put it down. I love this story anyways, but it was awesome to read
December 4, 2019
Wonderful retelling of Rumplestiltskin
I do love a clean, well told tale and this meets the mark in every way. Nicely done, imaginative work on an old standard fairy tale!
I do love a clean, well told tale and this meets the mark in every way. Nicely done, imaginative work on an old standard fairy tale!
February 8, 2022
excellent story re-weaving.
One of Nina Claire’s best that I have read. If you enjoyed Rumpelstiltskin, this deeper look will find favor with you. Thoroughly enjoyed!
One of Nina Claire’s best that I have read. If you enjoyed Rumpelstiltskin, this deeper look will find favor with you. Thoroughly enjoyed!
May 29, 2022
I enjoyed this retelling, although it was a bit frustrating in places
April 20, 2017
I really enjoyed this rendition of Rumpelstiltskin! This author took a little different spin on this fairy tale, but there were still some similar characters and plot lines. The characterization was fantastic. There was a lot more action in this version. I highly recommend this book to all readers!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews