The Furnace (Juniata Iron Trilogy, #1)
Publication Date: October 1, 2014
Fox Hollow Press
Formats: eBook & Paperback
Pages: 336
Series: Volume One, Juniata Iron Trilogy
Genre: Historical Fiction
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Elinor Bratton, young, beautiful, and privileged is pregnant and cast aside by her lover, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a eastern Pennsylvania family. As a result she is forced by her father into an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. Adam MacPhail, a common iron worker whose only wish is to become an iron master agrees to the match as a means of realizing his dream. Ellie’s father, Stephen Bratton, well to do, well connected and determined to save his daughter’s reputation, orchestrates the union -- not as Ellie would have it, but as he sees fit. So begins a marriage in a time when a woman had no voice, no rights, no say in matters directly pertaining to her. Ellie, exiled to the wilderness of western Pennsylvania with a man she would not have considered three months before, declares her intention to make Adam’s life miserable and make her father pay for his high-handed disregard for her rights. Adam, unschooled in dealing with women, chooses to focus his energy and attention on turning a down and out iron furnace into a profitable, well-ordered producer. Through the first half of the nineteenth century, the couple struggle to establish a life, disentangle an ill-conceived marriage, and make a success of a derelict furnace through the ups and downs of an unpredictable industry. Volume One of The Juniata Iron Trilogy, The Furnace chronicles Ellie and Adam’s efforts to find a balance and build an enterprise worthy of Pennsylvania’s iron industry, producing Juniata Iron, the finest in the world.
My Review
Four stars
Copy received from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for an honest review
This was my first time reading Judith Redline Coopey so I started with the first book in the Juniata Trilogy. There were some things I really loved. First, I really enjoyed the first person point of view for both Ellie and Adam. The first couple of chapters were mostly about Ellie and her life. Adam was a little harder to understand and his personality wasn't clear. Yes, he was very hardworking and very humble but there was no way to know what he was thinking or feeling. I personally loved Adam. I really got to understand him a man who had nothing, worked very, very hard to get what he wanted and provided for his family.
Ellie was a little harder to love. I understood that she was a very well to do so when she found herself pregnant and abandoned she had very little choices. I was split on liking and disliking Ellie. She was such a little brat but I also understood her anger. She wanted to be the one to decide her life for herself. Her marriage to Adam wasn't easy for many different reasons. First, yes, economically they came from very different backgrounds. Also, Adam was born with nothing and Ellie had everything handed to her.
Aside from this two very interesting and complex characters, the time period was interesting. Coopey really helped me understand the dire conditions that both Adam and Ellie faced. The basic commodities, even for their time, were not so basic. The entire story was an emotional ride. Adam and Ellie face many obstacles together-some by their own making. I loved Lindy, she was really Ellie's best friend and in many ways her savior. The only thing that stopped this from being a five star for me was the ending. I had a hard time accepting it. But overall, fascinating and heartbreaking story.
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Looking for Jane
Publication Date: December 21, 2012Fox Hollow Press
Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 238
Genre: Historical Fiction
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“The nuns use this as their measuring stick: who your people are. Well, what if you don’t have no people? Or any you know of? What then? Are you doomed?” This is the nagging question of fifteen-year-old Nell’s life. Born with a cleft palate and left a foundling on the doorstep of a convent, she yearns to know her mother, whose name, she knows, was Jane.
When the Mother Superior tries to pawn her off to a mean looking farmer and his beaten down wife, Nell opts for the only alternative she can see: she runs away. A chance encounter with a dime novel exhorting the exploits of Calamity Jane, heroine of the west, gives Nell the purpose of her life: to find Calamity Jane, who Nell is convinced is her mother.
Her quest takes her down rivers, up rivers and across the Badlands to Deadwood, South Dakota and introduces her to Soot, a big, lovable black dog, and Jeremy Chatterfield, a handsome young Englishman who isn’t particular about how he makes his way, as long as he doesn't have to work for it. Together they trek across the country meeting characters as wonderful and bizarre as the adventure they seek, learning about themselves and the world along the way.
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Waterproof: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood
Publication Date: May 1, 2012Fox Hollow Press
Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 266
Genre: Historical Fiction
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Fifty years after an earthen dam broke and sent a thirty foot wall of raging destruction down on the city of Johnstown, PA, Pamela McRae looks back on the tragedy with new perspective.
When the flood hit, it wiped out Pam’s fondest hopes, taking her fiancé and her brother’s lives and her mother’s sanity, and within a year her father walked away, leaving his daughter—now the sole support of her mother—to cope with poverty and loneliness.
The arrival of Katya, a poor Hungarian girl running away from an arranged marriage, finally gives Pam the chance she needs to get back into the world; Katya can care for her mother, and Pam can go to work for the Johnstown Clarion as a society reporter.
Then Davy Hughes, Pam’s fiancé before the flood, reappears and, instead of being the answer to her prayers, further complicates her life. Someone is seeking revenge on the owners of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the Pittsburgh millionaires who owned the failed dam, and Pam is afraid Davy has something to do with it.
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Redfield Farm: A Novel of the Underground Railroad
Publication Date: April 2, 2010Formats: ebook & Paperback
Pages: 280
Genre: Historical Fiction
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Ann Redfield is destined to follow her brother Jesse through life – two years behind him – all the way. Jesse is a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and Ann follows him there as well.
Quakers filled with a conviction as hard as Pennsylvania limestone that slavery is an abomination to be resisted with any means available, the Redfield brother and sister lie, sneak, masquerade and defy their way past would-be enforcers of the hated Fugitive Slave Law.
Their activities inevitably lead to complicated relationships when Jesse returns from a run with a deadly fever, accompanied by a fugitive, Josiah, who is also sick and close to death. Ann nurses both back to health. But precious time is lost, and Josiah, too weak for winter travel, stays on at Redfield Farm. Ann becomes his teacher, friend and confidant. When grave disappointment disrupts her life, Ann turns to Josiah for comfort, and comfort leads to intimacy. The result, both poignant and inspiring, leads to a life long devotion to one another and their cause.
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About the Author
Judith Redline Coopey, born in Altoona, PA holds degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University. A passion for history inherited from her father drives her writing and a love for Pennsylvania sustains it. Her first book, Redfield Farm was the story of the Underground Railroad in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The second, Waterproof, tells how the 1889 Johnstown Flood nearly destroyed a whole city and one young woman’s life. Looking For Jane is a quest for love and family in the 1890s brought to life through the eyes of Nell, a young girl convinced that Calamity Jane is her mother. Her most recent work, The Furnace: Volume One of the Juniata Iron Trilogy, is set on an iron plantation near where she grew up and tells the story of an ill conceived marriage of convenience as it plays out over a lifetime. As a teacher, writer and student of history, Ms Coopey finds her inspiration in the rich history of her native state and in stories of the lives of those who have gone before.For more information please visit Judith Redline Coopey's website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Judith Redline Coopey Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, March 16Spotlight at Literary Chanteuse
Spotlight at What Is That Book About
Tuesday, March 17
Review, Interview, & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus (The Furnace)
Wednesday, March 18
Spotlight & Giveaway at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
Thursday, March 19
Review at 100 Pages a Day (Looking for Jane)
Friday, March 20
Review at Rainy Day Reviews (Waterproof)
Monday, March 23
Review, Interview, & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus (Looking for Jane)
Wednesday, March 25
Interview at Layered Pages
Friday, March 27
Spotlight & Giveaway at Susan Heim on Writing
Saturday, March 28
Spotlight at Mythical Books
Monday, March 30
Guest Post at Historical Fiction Connection
Spotlight at Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Tuesday, March 31
Review at Beth's Book Nook (Looking for Jane)
Review, Interview, & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus (Waterproof)
Wednesday, April 1
Review & Interview at Jorie Loves a Story (Redfield Farm)
Guest Post at A Literary Vacation
Friday, April 3
Review at Book Babe
Saturday, April 4
Review at Book Nerd (The Furnace)
Monday, April 6
Review, Interview, & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus (Redfield Farm)
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