Gold Rush Women

The early history of women in gold rush times sees them as add-ons to men. They were wives, sisters, daughters. Given a little time they became also mothers. The concept of a woman being a person in her own right hardly seemed to exist

We have a few diaries of pioneer women and an archetype has emerged of noble, self-sacrificing creatures who milked the cows, fed the hens, sewed, cooked and raised ten children in between times. They were the wife of……the mother of…..They were important only in relationship to men.

In the”Golden” series I’ve taken a young woman who faces into the harshness of the gold rush alone. She is a widow – her husband dies on the way over. She has some help and support from men but basically she stands alone. She starts out to run a lodging house but then finds a more lucrative way to support herself.

To put some spice into the stories I’ve made them mysteries. Nancy Darke, young, bright and very much her own person solves a series of murders in fictional Bishopstown. The people, the setting are as true to the life of mid Victorian gold rush times as I can make it.

The first in the series ‘Graved in Gold’ sees Nancy investigating the killing of an old preacher. This will be an ebook published by MuseItUp in spring 2015. The second, ‘Veiled in Gold’ introduces a veiled lady whose allure hides a mysterious background. MuseItUp will be publishing this ebook later in 2015.

The third book in the series, a work still in progress, sees newcomers flooding the town and a new doctor whose arrival triggers both love and hate – along with, of course, murder.