Book Review: The Lady’s Mine

Review by Madeline Oliver

The Lady’s Mine by Francine Rivers

The Lady’s Mine is an adult historical fiction romance set in the 1870’s following Kathryn Walsh as she arrives at a rural mining town and is rather disgusted at the lack of manners and cruelty compared to her old home in Boston. 

Matthias Beck and every man in town has their sights on Kathryn as she’s the most beautiful and mysterious woman around. Especially since she oddly enough doesn’t want to marry, making Matthias Beck and Morgan Sanders all the more determined to win her heart, although Matthias won’t admit that he loves her for much of the story. 

Meanwhile, Kathryn surprises everyone by turning away from her feminine hat-making business to printing a town newspaper and being the journalist for the paper. This stirs up trouble for her and the two most powerful men in the town warn her against sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong but they use her newspaper skills when they both run for mayor. Kathryn also enrages one of the men when she starts a mine. The other is concerned for her safety. She doesn’t care about the opinions of either one. 

While this story contains a bit of a love triangle, it’s obvious who will get the girl. The love triangle could be compared to the love triangle in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins with Katniss, Peta, and Gale. You clearly know that Peta will get Katniss. This is a similar dynamic in The Lady’s Mine.

Content Warnings: There are Prostitutes and mention of sex due to the woman’s job/relationships with men and Kathryn