
The Watchmaker’s Daughter isn’t the kind of book that I’d normally pick up. Indeed, I happened to stumble across it while looking through the Kindle store for a light read. The book’s premise is fairly straight forward, our protagonist India Steele has fallen on hard times. Her father has just died and her fiancé has abandoned her once he gained possession of her father’s shop. Despite having worked with her father for years, she finds herself unemployed and forced to rely on the generosity of others to get by. This generosity, however, is beginning to wear thin. Enter Mr. Glass, a mysterious American with a secret that’s about to shake India’s world to its core.
This book certainly has a lot of charm going for it. The cast of characters, from the mysterious Mr. Glass to tomboyish Willie, make for an interesting read. However, I was somewhat disappointed by our protagonist as she falls into that annoying trope of ‘woman who should know better but is falling for the charms of the mysterious stranger.’ The author does do a good job of building India as a woman who is perhaps not as immune to the attentions of men as she believes but is a bit tiring that a few key plot points are triggered by this naivete.
The plot is also driven by India’s refusal to confront any of the other characters. When she suspects Mr. Glass of being a criminal she shies away from reporting him to the police, despite the idea crossing her mind a number of times. Indeed, it almost seems like the more dangerous he appears, the less likely she is to report him. Of course, all this works out in the end and Mr. Glass’ secrets are revealed for what they are and the true antagonist is caught. Everything wraps itself up nicely, with Mr. Glass and his family remaining in England and India finding herself in new employment. It just about avoids the trope of having the two fall into each other’s arms.
With these slight issues aired, I will say that The Watchmaker’s Daughter was fairly well written. While many of the characters are the standard fare Archer ensures that they do each maintain their own personality. As I’ve already suggested, India could have been a stronger lead but I suppose her weaknesses helped to move the story along. In all, I don’t think I’ll be running out to read the following books in the series right away, but by the same token, I won’t avoid them if they cross my path.