Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 5/5/2019 + 1223 more book reviews

This novel is based loosely on the story of Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst, a woman who lived most of her life as a man in California during the gold rush days. Charley worked as a stagecoach driver and developed a reputation as one of the finest drivers (a "whip") on the West Coast.

Although little is known about the real Parkhurst, this novel develops a fictional backstory where Charley was sent to an orphanage as a baby. She later fell in love and lived with a former slave and had a baby with him. When tragedy strikes and her family is killed she travels to California to seek vengeance. When she was in the orphanage, she had worked in the stable and became proficient with horses including driving wagons so she was able to dress as a man to get a job as a stage driver when she arrived in Sacramento. While in California, she has a secret love affair, kills a famous outlaw, and lives with a housekeeper and her daughter who were unaware of her true sex.

Even though most of this story is pure fiction, it still was very readable and I enjoyed reading it. At the end, I was really feeling sorry for what happened to Charley and how she had to live her life.

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