The Whip
by Karen Kondazian

The Whip is inspired by the true story of a woman, Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man in the old west.

As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had his child. The destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track the killer.

Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver for Wells Fargo. She killed a famous outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true sex, fell in love with her.

Charley was the first woman to vote in America (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California.

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.

This one is off to Bkind2books as a wishlist tag. Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing, perryfran. This sounds fascinating.

This novel is loosely based on the life of Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst, a woman who lived much of her life as a man. The author takes a few bits and pieces and forms a story of a woman brutalized by the orphanage where she was left, eventually falling in love with a black man and having his child, only to then lose them both in the most brutal fashion. All of these tragedies lead her to travel from the East Coast to the Wild West. She wants her revenge on the man she holds responsible for the deaths of her lover and child, and quickly determines that to carry her plan out she must dress and act as a man. There are few interludes where she is able to reveal herself, and ultimately those lead to tragedy as well. So she keeps this secret, with few exceptions, to the day she dies.

I found the story interesting and plausible for the most part, although most is conjecture at best. Much of this takes place near the area where my daughter now lives and so that also makes this book more compelling. I think that the story itself was so tragic and does make you see how the roles that women were forced into were so constricting.

Thank you Bkind2books - I'm looking forward to reading this.

Edited to add: I really enjoyed this book - what a life she had.

Sending this book down to my mum & aunt in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, I know they'll enjoy it too. When they are finished with it - they'll whip it back into my hands so it can continue it's BookCrossing adventures.

Please do check in from time to time little book on your ongoing trip - a journal note will do the trick!

This book will be traveling to a fellow BookCrosser - happy reading!

Please do check in from time to time little book on your ongoing trip - a journal note will do the trick!

Received safely. Thank you so much!

I very much enjoyed this story. Author Karen Kondazian's acting background served her in good stead when writing this book, as she clearly has a sound understanding of how to construct a compelling narrative and set up situations which can then be mined for dramatic effect. This Western novel was fun and a bit different from what I normally read!

I had to do a bit of a repair job on this book, gluing a large section of pages back into the spine. I think it will withstand another reader or two, but perhaps not much more than that. Will be interesting to see if the book checks back in again. I hope the finder enjoys it!