Beauty & Lace Book Review: 
The Curency Lass by Tea Cooper

We're in the second week of the Term 1 holidays here, and we are all looking forward to celebrating Easter this weekend. 
This week's prompt from fellow blogger Denyse is 'What does Easter mean to you?'
For my family, it means celebrating two Easters (traditional and Greek). It means doing a lot of baking, and dyeing eggs in the lead up to Sunday. It means spending time together as a family, and enjoying delicious food and good company.
So, whilst I've been busy making sweets, with more planned for today and Thursday, I have managed to squeeze in a bit of reading time too!
One of the most recent books I've read is The Currency Lass. The story begins with a short prologue about an innocent man being sent to hang in 1846 in Van Diemen's Land.
It then moves on to 1851, in the NSW location, where we are introduced to the main character of the story, Catherine Cottingham.
Catherine is 20 years old, and her only other living family member is her ailing father. His dying wish is to see that she is happy and taken care of, so he arranges for Catherine to marry a wealthy businessman by the name of Henry Bartholomew. However, Catherine has no interest in Bartholomew whatsoever, but goes on one date with him to the circus to please her father.
She is mesmerised by the circus, and a horseman catches her eye. 
On returning from the date, she sadly discovers that her father has passed away. Bartholomew arranges for him to be buried in Sydney, but Catherine refuses. Instead, she plans to return to their property, Cottington Hill.
On the return home, she encounters some trouble and a gentleman comes to her aid. 
It turns out it is the horseman from the circus, Sergey. He explains that the circus is travelling through, and Catherine offers them to camp on her property free of charge as a  sign of gratitude for his help.
Once back at Cottington HIll, she meets with the family solicitor, Mr DeSilva, who informs Catherine that financially, things don't look great.
She is even more shocked to discover that if she marries, then her husband would be entitled to her property, as the law states.
Catherine doesn't trust Bartholomew and doesn't want to marry him, and when DeSilva tells her that she will inherit the property on her 21st birthday, she decides to go into hiding until the day arrives when she can call Cottington Hill hers and hers alone.
She voices her concerns to Sergey, who offers her a job at the circus for 6 months, until her 21st birthday. She accepts, and they travel to the goldfields, continuing to perform daring and dazzling circus acts. Catherine is determined to see it out until her 21st birthday, but will it all go to plan?
We also find out how the opening scene of the story ties in with this part of the novel; it is a revelation that I thought was written very well. 
I don't want to spoil it so won't elaborate further, but I really enjoyed The Currency Lass. The author combined many facts within the fiction, which I thought was great. I also learnt the definition of 'Currency Lass/Lad', which was really interesting. 

I'd just  like to take this opportunity to wish a very Happy Easter to my readers who celebrate the day! If you do celebrate, feel free to let me know in the comments below how you're planning to spend the day, and what Easter means to you!

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of The Currency Lass thanks to Harlequin Mira and Beauty & Lace. To read the original review on the Beauty & Lace website, head here.
I have not been paid for this review. All opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way.