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Charlotte Perkins : Gold Digger
Charlotte Parker's father has struck it rich in the gold fields of California, then vanished. Charlotte is determined to find out what happened to him, but when her husband finds out her plan, he has her confined to an insane asylum to control her and to keep her from revealing his many dark secrets. Charlotte must depend on her wits to escape and survive on her way to the dangerous and vastly unfamiliar world of the Wild West.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2012
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Rector
14 books13 followersI specialize in female characters who, in spite of often unhappy, difficult personal circumstances, somehow manage to go after their own dreams.
Evaleen From Rags to Riches begins when Eva, a teenager, must find a way to support her mother and herself during the Great Depression, a time when there were few jobs, especially for someone so young and with no experience at anything. She dreams of riches and a great love.
Charlotte Parker Forty-Niner begins in 1850 when Charlotte, an upper class, proper Bostonian wife decides to leave her controlling husband and go to the gold fields of California to investigate her father's death. She does this at a time when women had few rights and a woman traveling alone was seen as highly suspect.
Running Away to Santa Fe is about Aurora, a woman in a marriage that hasn't so much died as withered away. When her sister dies, she realizes just how short a life can be and decides to "run away" to Santa Fe and follow her own dreams.
Chez Tulips - Recipes and Stories is a series of stories about dreams and dreamers in the restaurant business. As a kid, my parents owned a bar/cafe in a small town. Their big concern was that my brother and I not eat up the slim profits. If you ate even one candy bar, the profits from the whole box were lost. I have also worked as a food taster for a large corporation, and loved cooking and restaurants my whole life.
As for me, I have placed short stories with Pedestal Magazine, Black Petals, Southern Cross Review and others. In a long freelance writing career, I have sold articles, essays, poetry, and short stories to such places as East West, Cooking Light, and The Washington Post, and in collaboration with my husband, PMF Johnson, I have sold short stories to various anthologies. I hope you enjoy my novels and stories.
Evaleen From Rags to Riches begins when Eva, a teenager, must find a way to support her mother and herself during the Great Depression, a time when there were few jobs, especially for someone so young and with no experience at anything. She dreams of riches and a great love.
Charlotte Parker Forty-Niner begins in 1850 when Charlotte, an upper class, proper Bostonian wife decides to leave her controlling husband and go to the gold fields of California to investigate her father's death. She does this at a time when women had few rights and a woman traveling alone was seen as highly suspect.
Running Away to Santa Fe is about Aurora, a woman in a marriage that hasn't so much died as withered away. When her sister dies, she realizes just how short a life can be and decides to "run away" to Santa Fe and follow her own dreams.
Chez Tulips - Recipes and Stories is a series of stories about dreams and dreamers in the restaurant business. As a kid, my parents owned a bar/cafe in a small town. Their big concern was that my brother and I not eat up the slim profits. If you ate even one candy bar, the profits from the whole box were lost. I have also worked as a food taster for a large corporation, and loved cooking and restaurants my whole life.
As for me, I have placed short stories with Pedestal Magazine, Black Petals, Southern Cross Review and others. In a long freelance writing career, I have sold articles, essays, poetry, and short stories to such places as East West, Cooking Light, and The Washington Post, and in collaboration with my husband, PMF Johnson, I have sold short stories to various anthologies. I hope you enjoy my novels and stories.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 15, 2013
Review: Charlotte Perkins – Gold Digger
By Sandra Rector
The plot of the novel Charlotte Perkins – Gold Digger is plausible and interesting. A women, living in Boston, in the 1840 – 50’s, decides to move to California. Her reasons are simple. Loveless marriage and revenge for her father’s death. She receives encrypted letters hinting of foul play and potential riches. And so begins the saga of Charlotte’s trip to California and the dangers and trials that ensue.
Ms. Rector has a good sense of pacing and rarely does the story drag. She has enlisted a large group of characters and she uses them well.
The problem I had with the novel is that I could never feel anything for the main character. Charlotte has a story to tell but she finds solutions to her problems too easily. Following the rule of extremes, the more dire the circumstance and the more hopeless the situation, the more satisfying is the redemption. I found that I felt little for her because the solution was waiting on the next page.
I would like to commend Sandra for her effort and do believe that she has a future as a writer. Although this is not a gem, it certainly shows promise. I hope to read her next offering.
By Sandra Rector
The plot of the novel Charlotte Perkins – Gold Digger is plausible and interesting. A women, living in Boston, in the 1840 – 50’s, decides to move to California. Her reasons are simple. Loveless marriage and revenge for her father’s death. She receives encrypted letters hinting of foul play and potential riches. And so begins the saga of Charlotte’s trip to California and the dangers and trials that ensue.
Ms. Rector has a good sense of pacing and rarely does the story drag. She has enlisted a large group of characters and she uses them well.
The problem I had with the novel is that I could never feel anything for the main character. Charlotte has a story to tell but she finds solutions to her problems too easily. Following the rule of extremes, the more dire the circumstance and the more hopeless the situation, the more satisfying is the redemption. I found that I felt little for her because the solution was waiting on the next page.
I would like to commend Sandra for her effort and do believe that she has a future as a writer. Although this is not a gem, it certainly shows promise. I hope to read her next offering.
November 2, 2012
“Charlotte Perkins: Gold Digger” is a historical fiction set in the mid-19th century gold-rush country of California. It’s an easy and engaging read, and the author obviously researched her environments well. She’s able to provide accurate descriptions complete with the correct flora and fauna, food, clothing, equipment, supplies, and techniques. In fact, this would be a good book for someone looking to know a little more about the gold rush without plowing through text-book history. There’s also a mystery thrown in, and it involves some unusual and unconventional characters.
However, it’s not for the young adult – there are some graphic sex scenes which caught me somewhat off-guard. I’ve read a few historical fictions before, and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, since this kind of thing tends to show up. But don’t grab this for your young teen to try and interest her in western history; she might get an unexpected eyeful!
The first part of the book was the most engaging for me. It moved along pretty quickly, and I enjoyed Charlotte’s sudden removal from high-society Boston to an insane asylum. The pace continued as she found berth on a ship, travelled down the coast to Panama, and made her way across to the Pacific coast.
Things tended to bog down in the middle, where Charlotte did a lot of reminiscing about her life in Boston, her dead sister, hateful daughter, and falling in love with her now ex-husband. There was a lot of repetition of this reminiscing throughout the last half of the book. Things took a more unlikely twist after she got to California; there seemed to be a lot of coincidences, unlikely events, and strange decisions by people she needed to find out more about.
Although there’s plenty of action, somehow I often didn’t really feel it. I think that was my main issue with the book; although I was told how Charlotte was feeling, everything seemed to just proceed along on an even keel without evoking a lot of emotion in me. This is one of those subjective things that others might disagree with, and might be a mood of my own.
There were very few typos and practically no grammatical issues. The only recurring and frequent issue on that front was a problem with closing quotes; often, chunks of narrative got enclosed along with the dialogue, or the quotes just never closed at all. This may be a formatting issue or a proofreading issue. Overall, it was only slightly distracting and not a big deal.
Towards the end of the book there is some “head-hopping” that goes on; while we’ve been seeing things from Charlotte’s point of view, we suddenly shift to someone else’s point of view with no warning or break in the text. Sometimes this is only for one paragraph. Conventionally, these changes in point of view are marked by a chapter or text break; otherwise, it’s confusing.
The book ends on a happy note. If you like happy endings, you’ll enjoy the neat wrap-up. Overall, fans of western history, and particularly in unconventional women in western history, will enjoy this book. You might also pick up some tips on cheating while gambling, black-powder loads, and mule jerky!
However, it’s not for the young adult – there are some graphic sex scenes which caught me somewhat off-guard. I’ve read a few historical fictions before, and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, since this kind of thing tends to show up. But don’t grab this for your young teen to try and interest her in western history; she might get an unexpected eyeful!
The first part of the book was the most engaging for me. It moved along pretty quickly, and I enjoyed Charlotte’s sudden removal from high-society Boston to an insane asylum. The pace continued as she found berth on a ship, travelled down the coast to Panama, and made her way across to the Pacific coast.
Things tended to bog down in the middle, where Charlotte did a lot of reminiscing about her life in Boston, her dead sister, hateful daughter, and falling in love with her now ex-husband. There was a lot of repetition of this reminiscing throughout the last half of the book. Things took a more unlikely twist after she got to California; there seemed to be a lot of coincidences, unlikely events, and strange decisions by people she needed to find out more about.
Although there’s plenty of action, somehow I often didn’t really feel it. I think that was my main issue with the book; although I was told how Charlotte was feeling, everything seemed to just proceed along on an even keel without evoking a lot of emotion in me. This is one of those subjective things that others might disagree with, and might be a mood of my own.
There were very few typos and practically no grammatical issues. The only recurring and frequent issue on that front was a problem with closing quotes; often, chunks of narrative got enclosed along with the dialogue, or the quotes just never closed at all. This may be a formatting issue or a proofreading issue. Overall, it was only slightly distracting and not a big deal.
Towards the end of the book there is some “head-hopping” that goes on; while we’ve been seeing things from Charlotte’s point of view, we suddenly shift to someone else’s point of view with no warning or break in the text. Sometimes this is only for one paragraph. Conventionally, these changes in point of view are marked by a chapter or text break; otherwise, it’s confusing.
The book ends on a happy note. If you like happy endings, you’ll enjoy the neat wrap-up. Overall, fans of western history, and particularly in unconventional women in western history, will enjoy this book. You might also pick up some tips on cheating while gambling, black-powder loads, and mule jerky!
February 13, 2013
Judging the book by its title, we might expect a humorous novel, in which a woman searches for a rich husband. Or we might read of a woman prospector. The cover tells us it’s set in the Old West, and it looks like a serious tale.
The tale: In 1850, Charlotte Perkins Adams escapes from a Boston insane asylum and travels to California to avenge her father’s murder and to claim the gold mine she has inherited.
We’re hooked. And we stay hooked. The story is well plotted and clearly written, which makes for a fast read. Charlotte’s trouble begins early, along with questions that will carry us through the novel. We keep reading to find answers to the mysteries that dangle before us.
Evidently Rector knows her history. She writes convincingly of the era with its nuances as if she’s lived it. Her sense of atmosphere and the details that suggest vigorous research hold the reader’s interest. For example, we learn the tricks of a card sharp and the equipment needed for a black powder gun. We gain an understanding of major and minor characters from their descriptions and backgrounds. These people are realistic, refreshingly written about by getting away from stereotypes, such as everyone hating Indians or Jews. Back story comes at appropriate times. Incidents along the way illustrate the personality of the era, so it becomes a character in the novel.
It doesn't take us long to know Charlotte and to like her. She is strong and sympathetic, a caring person, but not perfect. Her breaking from revenge and building up to resuming it shows the author’s insight, a revelation of the human spirit we seldom see in other novels. Yet we experience it in ourselves. And so the main characters evolve from weakness to strength, from fear to understanding, and from isolation to trust and love.
The story is so finely detailed, including love scenes, that one of Charlotte’s problems is glaring by its omission. During her journey to California, she disguises herself as a man in a crowd of men. She obsesses over the fear of discovery, yet not once does she consider what women used to call the monthly curse. Also we need some reason to understand why her comfortable women’s shoes don’t give her away.
The first chapters are cleanly written, but into the novel, the typos appear, and eventually some bloopers show up. It's true that we are solidly in the head of the protagonist, experiencing all she senses. It's true that description is rich but not overdone. It's also true that reminders of Charlotte’s aim and her concerns keep us in the story, and we continue to be fascinated. Nevertheless as her mind chatter continues and increases, some readers might consider it overdone. Deeper into the novel when two potential lovers are brought together, the mood slightly loses consistency when it takes on the element of a romance novel by shifting point of view and by describing the man as resembling a Greek god. Charlotte, we learned earlier, is built like a goddess.
The last chapter is strong. It builds to an exciting climax and a satisfying ending.
This book is such a pleasure to read, one risks being kept up past midnight.
The tale: In 1850, Charlotte Perkins Adams escapes from a Boston insane asylum and travels to California to avenge her father’s murder and to claim the gold mine she has inherited.
We’re hooked. And we stay hooked. The story is well plotted and clearly written, which makes for a fast read. Charlotte’s trouble begins early, along with questions that will carry us through the novel. We keep reading to find answers to the mysteries that dangle before us.
Evidently Rector knows her history. She writes convincingly of the era with its nuances as if she’s lived it. Her sense of atmosphere and the details that suggest vigorous research hold the reader’s interest. For example, we learn the tricks of a card sharp and the equipment needed for a black powder gun. We gain an understanding of major and minor characters from their descriptions and backgrounds. These people are realistic, refreshingly written about by getting away from stereotypes, such as everyone hating Indians or Jews. Back story comes at appropriate times. Incidents along the way illustrate the personality of the era, so it becomes a character in the novel.
It doesn't take us long to know Charlotte and to like her. She is strong and sympathetic, a caring person, but not perfect. Her breaking from revenge and building up to resuming it shows the author’s insight, a revelation of the human spirit we seldom see in other novels. Yet we experience it in ourselves. And so the main characters evolve from weakness to strength, from fear to understanding, and from isolation to trust and love.
The story is so finely detailed, including love scenes, that one of Charlotte’s problems is glaring by its omission. During her journey to California, she disguises herself as a man in a crowd of men. She obsesses over the fear of discovery, yet not once does she consider what women used to call the monthly curse. Also we need some reason to understand why her comfortable women’s shoes don’t give her away.
The first chapters are cleanly written, but into the novel, the typos appear, and eventually some bloopers show up. It's true that we are solidly in the head of the protagonist, experiencing all she senses. It's true that description is rich but not overdone. It's also true that reminders of Charlotte’s aim and her concerns keep us in the story, and we continue to be fascinated. Nevertheless as her mind chatter continues and increases, some readers might consider it overdone. Deeper into the novel when two potential lovers are brought together, the mood slightly loses consistency when it takes on the element of a romance novel by shifting point of view and by describing the man as resembling a Greek god. Charlotte, we learned earlier, is built like a goddess.
The last chapter is strong. It builds to an exciting climax and a satisfying ending.
This book is such a pleasure to read, one risks being kept up past midnight.
July 9, 2021
Set in the gold rush days of California, Forty-Niner is the story of Charlotte Parker, a middle-aged woman who discovers her husband’s been living a secret life, but more devastatingly, that her father has likely been murdered. The plot involves schemes to keep Charlotte away from the gold mine she’s inherited, as the author presents an honest view of societal attitudes towards women at the time -- while not lapsing into sermons or drawing awkward parallels to any contemporary political issues. Some of the characters are broadly defined, and the ending is arguably trite, but it does feel appropriate for the audience and the book they’re probably looking to read. This isn’t serious literary fiction, but it moves quickly and the author convincingly conveys her reverence for the time period and the fiction of the era.
October 27, 2012
Charlotte Perkins is the story of a 40 yr old, well-to-do woman in the 1850’s at the time of the gold rush in California. When she finds out that her father was murdered there and she was to inherit his mine, her husband, a conservative upper-class Bostonian, has her taken away to an insane asylum because she seems to be grieving too deeply. And so the adventure begins, when this society woman is determined to get to the bottom of her father’s death, even though she comes up against enough people and situations who want to stop her.
The whole era of the gold rush is reflected here well and I like the way the characters were personified by their speech. I would have liked to have read more dialogue. The story flowed well but was slowed at points when the main character spent too much time in her own head.
I enjoyed Sandra Rector’s writing and would like to read Evaleen the Queen, too.
The whole era of the gold rush is reflected here well and I like the way the characters were personified by their speech. I would have liked to have read more dialogue. The story flowed well but was slowed at points when the main character spent too much time in her own head.
I enjoyed Sandra Rector’s writing and would like to read Evaleen the Queen, too.
October 25, 2015
This thoroughly researched historical fiction novel takes place during the 1850 California Gold Rush.
It is a story about a woman named Charlotte Perkins who has escaped from a Boston insane asylum, travels to California to avenge her father's murder and to claim her inheritance which is a gold mine.
Rector writes with an even cadence throughout, except during the main character's lingering self reflections, which I found distracting. Although Charlotte is a caring and likeable character, her strong personality could have been further explored.
Overall it was a compelling story that held my attention to the end.
It is a story about a woman named Charlotte Perkins who has escaped from a Boston insane asylum, travels to California to avenge her father's murder and to claim her inheritance which is a gold mine.
Rector writes with an even cadence throughout, except during the main character's lingering self reflections, which I found distracting. Although Charlotte is a caring and likeable character, her strong personality could have been further explored.
Overall it was a compelling story that held my attention to the end.
August 10, 2021
The story of Charlotte’s journey from Boston to California to try to claim her murdered father’s gold mine is interesting in its historical detail and the language used, though I’ve no way of knowing whether it’s accurate and authentic.
As with many historical novels, the strife, injuries, violence, disease, etc are not covered very thoroughly and don't seem entirely convincing. A rather unbelievable, and unrealistic, degree of luck was allowed to the heroine to enable her to survive to the conclusion. A lot of the writing is cloyingly sentimental. The ‘light touch’ puts the novel into the ‘heartwarming’ category which suits a certain audience.
The writing style is simple and unsophisticated. It’s rather flat and obvious, in the attempt to get through the large amount of material comprised in this story. This is a pity since a more refined and polished style, possibly cutting down on the number of events, could have made the book into a classic.
I’ve given it three stars because I quite enjoyed tripping through Charlotte’s travels and her experiences with her, but would have preferred a more comprehensive approach to this extraordinary expedition.
As with many historical novels, the strife, injuries, violence, disease, etc are not covered very thoroughly and don't seem entirely convincing. A rather unbelievable, and unrealistic, degree of luck was allowed to the heroine to enable her to survive to the conclusion. A lot of the writing is cloyingly sentimental. The ‘light touch’ puts the novel into the ‘heartwarming’ category which suits a certain audience.
The writing style is simple and unsophisticated. It’s rather flat and obvious, in the attempt to get through the large amount of material comprised in this story. This is a pity since a more refined and polished style, possibly cutting down on the number of events, could have made the book into a classic.
I’ve given it three stars because I quite enjoyed tripping through Charlotte’s travels and her experiences with her, but would have preferred a more comprehensive approach to this extraordinary expedition.
July 9, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is historical fiction, adventure, and romance all rolled in to one. Charlotte throws off the norms of society and becomes Boston when she needs to do so, dressing like a man and going on an adventure to the Wild West. Along the way, she meets a cast of colorful characters, some who help her and some who wish to cause her harm. She is motivated by her desire to avenge her father's death as well as her intense wish to be rid of her dirtbag husband, one who has been protected by the good-ole-boys long enough. The plot is engaging, the setting is well-developed, and I was whisked to a time when, in some places at least, men made their own laws and served their own justice.
March 24, 2023
An entertaining read.
It's the 1850s and Charlotte Parker’s life is about to change. Forever. After a series of personal losses Charlotte decides it's time to take charge of her life and embarks on a dangerous adventure to the goldfields of California. Disguising herself as a man doesn’t ensure her safety. It's a dog-eat-dog world without justice. Charlotte must rely on her wits to survive.
The story moves along at a brisk pace. The heroine encounters both the ruthless and compassionate. The cast of characters is varied. The adventure is exciting. Romance, friendship, self-discovery, mystery, and survival are all rolled into the rich Gold Rush era—a time in history when men made their own laws and met out their own form of justice.
It's the 1850s and Charlotte Parker’s life is about to change. Forever. After a series of personal losses Charlotte decides it's time to take charge of her life and embarks on a dangerous adventure to the goldfields of California. Disguising herself as a man doesn’t ensure her safety. It's a dog-eat-dog world without justice. Charlotte must rely on her wits to survive.
The story moves along at a brisk pace. The heroine encounters both the ruthless and compassionate. The cast of characters is varied. The adventure is exciting. Romance, friendship, self-discovery, mystery, and survival are all rolled into the rich Gold Rush era—a time in history when men made their own laws and met out their own form of justice.
July 27, 2021
This was a story full of adventure and self-discovery. I enjoyed reading it. I loved the main character - Charlotte, her bravery and fight to free herself from the clutches of her nefarious husband and her incredibly difficult journey to reclaim what was rightfully hers. The conflicts in the novel were relatable and kept me rooting for Charlotte. The romance between Charlotte and Antioch was beautifully written by the author and made this women’s fiction book more enjoyable for me.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction about strong women, non-stop adventure with a touch of romance, you’ll love Charlotte Parker Forty-Niner.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction about strong women, non-stop adventure with a touch of romance, you’ll love Charlotte Parker Forty-Niner.
February 26, 2013
RECEIVED FREE COPY TO REVIEW
With its double meaning title, Charlotte Perkins Gold Digger presents a character who digs for the Mother Lode and gold digs staff at an insane asylum, passengers on a dangerous disease plagued overcrowded ship sailing for the gold fields, and those she meets in California.
Such dualism thunders from start to finish: a husband psychically castrated by an unforgiving bitter wife and a Chinese employee in a Sacramento brothel physically castrated by the custom of his native land (naming him after the xenophobic dynasty that neutered China proved to be potent symbolism); the lust of miners for the shiny metal and the parasites and predators lying in wait to fleece them; the civilized justice of the Boston legal system sentencing the heroine to slow death in an insane asylum and the uncivilized justice of miners' courts in California torturing, maiming, and executing those declared guilty; Charlotte's duties as wife and mother and those as daughter and inheritor of her dead father's estate; a husband's addiction to pornography and a wife's unmet needs.
The book's theme throbs like the beat of a diseased heart: Be careful what you hope for, you just might find it
With its double meaning title, Charlotte Perkins Gold Digger presents a character who digs for the Mother Lode and gold digs staff at an insane asylum, passengers on a dangerous disease plagued overcrowded ship sailing for the gold fields, and those she meets in California.
Such dualism thunders from start to finish: a husband psychically castrated by an unforgiving bitter wife and a Chinese employee in a Sacramento brothel physically castrated by the custom of his native land (naming him after the xenophobic dynasty that neutered China proved to be potent symbolism); the lust of miners for the shiny metal and the parasites and predators lying in wait to fleece them; the civilized justice of the Boston legal system sentencing the heroine to slow death in an insane asylum and the uncivilized justice of miners' courts in California torturing, maiming, and executing those declared guilty; Charlotte's duties as wife and mother and those as daughter and inheritor of her dead father's estate; a husband's addiction to pornography and a wife's unmet needs.
The book's theme throbs like the beat of a diseased heart: Be careful what you hope for, you just might find it
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews