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Crown of Dust
A “remarkable” historical novel about a woman hiding from her past in a hardscrabble Gold Rush town (The Washington Times). The gold rush has taken hold of the Wild West. Pioneers from around the country congregate in makeshift settlements like Motherlode in hopes of striking it rich. It’s here that Alex, disguised as a boy and on the run from her troubled past, is able to blend in among the rough and tumble prospectors living on little more than adrenaline and moonshine. Word spreads quickly when Alex becomes the first in Motherlode to strike gold. Outsiders pour in from wealthy east coast cities, primed to cash in on the discovery. But these opportunists from the outside world have no place in Motherlode and threaten to rip the town—and its residents—apart. Alex must fight to protect her secrets—and her life. And against the odds, it’s here, in this lawless outpost, that Alex may finally be able to find friendship, redemption, and even love. “Beautifully written.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A moving portrait of outcasts and nonconformists who build their own community . . . Evocative historical background and thoughtful social observation make this a promising debut.” —Kirkus Reviews
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
29 people are currently reading
559 people want to read
About the author
Mary Volmer
3 books82 followersI grew up ten miles outside of Grass Valley, California, a Sierra Nevada foothill town in the heart of Gold Country. Dad taught high school Special Ed. Mom was a librarian, a second grade and then a middle school English teacher, so most of my early memories feature blackboards, books, dusty, deserted playgrounds, and bigger kids who were mostly tolerant and kind, in a dismissive sort of way. I adored them all but idolized Jean, a freckled blond girl in my older brother’s class.
Jean was bigger than most of the boys, faster too, and her knees were branded with the most exquisite bruises I’d ever seen. Jean taught me how to dribble a basketball, how to elbow my way into games, how to play through bloody noses, how to go get the ball when the boys wouldn’t pass to me. I wanted to be Jean, but any playground respect I might have earned as her understudy was undercut by the fact I was a teacher’s kid, and a crier, and too eager to please for my own good. It also didn’t help that I loved to play make believe with another, distinctly uncool faction of kids who became my lasting friends.
Although I eventually grew to love reading, I never imagined I’d write books. At ten I dreamed of two things. Playing NBA basketball with Magic Johnson, and singing in Star Makers! a junior high song and dance troupe complete with sequined leotards and tap shoes. One of these dreams came true, but I have burned all video evidence. I did some success on the basketball court. At any rate I was good to earn a scholarship to play at Saint Mary’s, a small, division one college on the west coast. We won a lot, which was great, but I was undersized and rarely played, which wasn’t great. It also became clear in my wretched first year, that I was not cut out to be a pre-med student. (I thought athletes were competitive!) After fumbling around a few semesters I found a home with English majors, many of whom also wrote squalid little poems and stories in beat up notebooks, and what’s more, admitted to doing so.
After college I studied writing on a Rotary Scholarship at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales. Here, with the confidence of a novice, I decided to write a novel, and set about it with an athlete’s bullheaded determination, blocking out time and showing up each day whether I felt like it or not. In fiction, I found a medium appropriate for the outsized emotions that had always plagued me. The best thing about books—writing or reading them—is that you’re invited to feel and think deeply with, and for, other people. Even people who never existed, or lived hundreds of years before you. I also tried my hand at acting in Wales but my first role, as a mad lawyer in the Duchess of Malfi, was also my last. The whole venture felt too much like sports, with a coach or casting director determining whether I would get to play. Editors, those literary gate keepers, can say no, but they can never stop you from writing.
Probably my folks imagined I’d go away for a year and get this writing thing out my system. Instead I returned to attend my alma mater for an MFA. A year later my first novel, CROWN OF DUST, was published. Now after marriage, my first full time job, and a baby, and a few spectacular failures, my second novel—RELIANCE, ILLINOIS—has finally endured that treacherous sophomore road to existence. I’m working on a third.
Jean was bigger than most of the boys, faster too, and her knees were branded with the most exquisite bruises I’d ever seen. Jean taught me how to dribble a basketball, how to elbow my way into games, how to play through bloody noses, how to go get the ball when the boys wouldn’t pass to me. I wanted to be Jean, but any playground respect I might have earned as her understudy was undercut by the fact I was a teacher’s kid, and a crier, and too eager to please for my own good. It also didn’t help that I loved to play make believe with another, distinctly uncool faction of kids who became my lasting friends.
Although I eventually grew to love reading, I never imagined I’d write books. At ten I dreamed of two things. Playing NBA basketball with Magic Johnson, and singing in Star Makers! a junior high song and dance troupe complete with sequined leotards and tap shoes. One of these dreams came true, but I have burned all video evidence. I did some success on the basketball court. At any rate I was good to earn a scholarship to play at Saint Mary’s, a small, division one college on the west coast. We won a lot, which was great, but I was undersized and rarely played, which wasn’t great. It also became clear in my wretched first year, that I was not cut out to be a pre-med student. (I thought athletes were competitive!) After fumbling around a few semesters I found a home with English majors, many of whom also wrote squalid little poems and stories in beat up notebooks, and what’s more, admitted to doing so.
After college I studied writing on a Rotary Scholarship at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales. Here, with the confidence of a novice, I decided to write a novel, and set about it with an athlete’s bullheaded determination, blocking out time and showing up each day whether I felt like it or not. In fiction, I found a medium appropriate for the outsized emotions that had always plagued me. The best thing about books—writing or reading them—is that you’re invited to feel and think deeply with, and for, other people. Even people who never existed, or lived hundreds of years before you. I also tried my hand at acting in Wales but my first role, as a mad lawyer in the Duchess of Malfi, was also my last. The whole venture felt too much like sports, with a coach or casting director determining whether I would get to play. Editors, those literary gate keepers, can say no, but they can never stop you from writing.
Probably my folks imagined I’d go away for a year and get this writing thing out my system. Instead I returned to attend my alma mater for an MFA. A year later my first novel, CROWN OF DUST, was published. Now after marriage, my first full time job, and a baby, and a few spectacular failures, my second novel—RELIANCE, ILLINOIS—has finally endured that treacherous sophomore road to existence. I’m working on a third.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 30, 2012
This book is incredible, mesmerizing, magnificent.
In the late 19th century, a young man arrives in Emaline's town of Motherlode, a small mining start-up near the grass valley. Alex, the young man, is running from a past he doesn't want to remember, and hiding a secret that could ruin his life, and take his freedom. For Alex is not a young man, but a young woman. The story is about Emaline and Alex, and all the other inhabitants of Motherlode, with their many desires, ambitions, dreams, cares, and problems. The setting is a poor town with plenty of water in the creek and enough gold to keep the miners panning, but not much else. A town with an unfinished church, and a wild but mostly decent population.
The story is told through the viewpoints of many of the inhabitants. It is told in the present tense, which is something I just encountered (for the first time?) recently. It takes some getting used to, but it adds a completely different flavor to the story and the plot. It makes the dust and the rain of the town and the cares and hopes of the protagonists more immediate, and separates memories (told in the past tense) from the current storyline.
The writing is more calm than fast-paced, but the book still achieves an un-put-downable quality (there is still action aplenty). The characters are top-notch, wonderful, realistic creations that drive the plot and truly make the story fascinating. Near the beginning of the second half, I started to get a little impatient, and maybe didn't do justice to some of the non-Alex-related happenings. At first I was a little concerned that Alex might have forgotten his origins as a young woman, but she still narrates the story from a young woman's point of view, even though she admits it is easy to think of herself as a young man.
Final word: The ending is So. Good. Sogood.
In the late 19th century, a young man arrives in Emaline's town of Motherlode, a small mining start-up near the grass valley. Alex, the young man, is running from a past he doesn't want to remember, and hiding a secret that could ruin his life, and take his freedom. For Alex is not a young man, but a young woman. The story is about Emaline and Alex, and all the other inhabitants of Motherlode, with their many desires, ambitions, dreams, cares, and problems. The setting is a poor town with plenty of water in the creek and enough gold to keep the miners panning, but not much else. A town with an unfinished church, and a wild but mostly decent population.
The story is told through the viewpoints of many of the inhabitants. It is told in the present tense, which is something I just encountered (for the first time?) recently. It takes some getting used to, but it adds a completely different flavor to the story and the plot. It makes the dust and the rain of the town and the cares and hopes of the protagonists more immediate, and separates memories (told in the past tense) from the current storyline.
The writing is more calm than fast-paced, but the book still achieves an un-put-downable quality (there is still action aplenty). The characters are top-notch, wonderful, realistic creations that drive the plot and truly make the story fascinating. Near the beginning of the second half, I started to get a little impatient, and maybe didn't do justice to some of the non-Alex-related happenings. At first I was a little concerned that Alex might have forgotten his origins as a young woman, but she still narrates the story from a young woman's point of view, even though she admits it is easy to think of herself as a young man.
Final word: The ending is So. Good. Sogood.
October 27, 2010
I love Westerns and though I suppose this isn’t strictly speaking a Western it is set in California during the 19th Century gold rush. Motherlode is a typical town of the times made up of 90% men with several wives, daughters and mothers and, in this case, one bad girl called Emaline who runs the local hotel/bar. The men hang on her words. They count on her for a sense of civilization and for a woman’s touch…..literarily. When a young man named Alex happens into town he first hates Emaline but then begins to value her. Alex finds a large piece of gold on his first day working his claim. He’s renamed the Golden Boy. His fame spreads bringing many new seekers to town.
Volmer’s debut novel is a fun book set during a fascinating time and place. There are intrigues that keep you guessing throughout. It’s a serious book dealing with relationships between men and women, slavery/racism, sexual identity, greed, crime but Volmer accomplishes this with lots of humor. It was a unique time in our history and she portrays it well.
Volmer’s debut novel is a fun book set during a fascinating time and place. There are intrigues that keep you guessing throughout. It’s a serious book dealing with relationships between men and women, slavery/racism, sexual identity, greed, crime but Volmer accomplishes this with lots of humor. It was a unique time in our history and she portrays it well.
June 25, 2011
My namesake did me proud! This book is wonderful and you really get a feel for the characters at the time of the gold rush. Each of the characters had their own demons to wrestle with but that's what brought them together and bonded them somewhat like a family. This was a time of risk taking and starting anew with hopes and dreams of better times. The author brings you right into each of the characters' hearts in a way that you cry right along with them with joy and sorrow. I'm hoping for a sequel!
February 12, 2009
Sometimes no luck is good luck. When a cross dressing runaway fleeing the law finds gold in a mining town, the world rushes in threatening her disguise, her life, and the community of outcasts she'd grown to love. Really, not what I expected. Great characters and the writing sucked me right in. I couldn't put it down. It's not a five, but I'm not sure why.
March 23, 2011
Ok...I almost didn't finish this one but I stuck with it. I had an ARC so I am hoping that some of the strangeness was edited out. I kept having to go back and figure out whose voice I was reading and sometimes little details seemed incorrect or inconsistant. I did enjoy some of the characters but most seemed flat.
April 14, 2021
Remarkably memorable characters and a definite sense of place. Every character has secrets and desperation and hope. I was rooting for Emaline and Jed and Alex and David throughout. They surprised me and broke my heart in all kinds of wonderful ways.
September 8, 2010
Set in fictional Motherlode during the California gold rush, CROWN OF DUST is the story of Emaline, a prostitute and the proprietress of the Victoria Inn, and Alex, a young woman from out of town, whom she befriends. Although the book opens in Emaline’s point of view, we are quickly transported to Alex’s world, where we learn she possesses a secret so damaging she must pass as a boy to protect herself. The deception works, as Volmer explains, because no one in Motherlode has ever really looked at Alex, so they’ve only seen her as a boy. It’s this deception that gives the story its tension and momentum, as it provides the reader with not only the tragic details of Alex’s past, but the possibilities of her future: Will she fall in love with taciturn David, and if so, will he discover she’s a girl?
The big reveal is, in part, why we’re reading, and Volmer doesn’t disappoint. When Alex’s secret is at last unveiled, it isn’t the tawdry device it might have been in the hands of a less-capable writer, but presented in a quiet and almost reverent fashion, so that the revelation never overpowers the novel’s underpinnings: conflict between blacks and whites, whites and Chinese, and always, greedy men with guns.
The author also persuades us she is well-versed in the landscape that is the Sierra Nevada, and treats us to sentences that inform and delight: “It’s a metal, like any other.” He grabbed the flier from his son’s hand and tore it down the middle, separating the Cali from the fornia and the G from the old.
Volmer’s debut novel is a beautiful story, and, it is hoped, the first of many fine tales to come.
The big reveal is, in part, why we’re reading, and Volmer doesn’t disappoint. When Alex’s secret is at last unveiled, it isn’t the tawdry device it might have been in the hands of a less-capable writer, but presented in a quiet and almost reverent fashion, so that the revelation never overpowers the novel’s underpinnings: conflict between blacks and whites, whites and Chinese, and always, greedy men with guns.
The author also persuades us she is well-versed in the landscape that is the Sierra Nevada, and treats us to sentences that inform and delight: “It’s a metal, like any other.” He grabbed the flier from his son’s hand and tore it down the middle, separating the Cali from the fornia and the G from the old.
Volmer’s debut novel is a beautiful story, and, it is hoped, the first of many fine tales to come.
June 14, 2011
Crown of Dust is set in the fictional gold rush town of Motherlode, California, which is populated by hopeful miners, a drunk preacher, and Emaline, the proprietess of The Victoria hotel. Emaline prides herself in making the town what it is, and in providing every service the men require.
In walks Alex, a slight, quiet boy who rarely speaks.
The reader soon finds out that Alex is, in fact, a woman who desperately needs to keep her past a secret. Alex’s disguise is quietly accepted—after all, Motherlode is a town full of people running away, or those reinventing themselves. Alex rents a room from Emaline and becomes one of the hotel’s regulars.
The tenuous equilibrium of the town is shaken when Alex discovers a large nugget of gold in a claim long abandoned and declared dry. Soon two other miners, Limpy and David, join in as Alex’s partners. The news spreads quickly and soon the town is overrun with lawyers, shopkeepers, and women of “high moral character.” The newcomers threaten the core group at the Victoria hotel, especially Emaline and Alex.
Volmer’s writing is spare but rich in telling detail. The landscape can be felt and heard throughout, so that the reader has a tangible sense of the place. Though she writes of the kind of men and women who might appear in many a gold rush story, she shines a clear, honest light on their inner lives and so reveals their characters in full.
The prose feels dense but surprisingly, this story moves along at a brisk pace, with action and surprising twists all the way to the last lines. A highly enjoyable read.
March 13, 2015
This novel was full of great surprises. I picked it up despite the label of 'historical fiction' stuck on it, a genre I've never been fond of. I think any such label diminishes the power of this novel.
I think this novel is what happens when an actual woman gets to sit down and write a novel about the West, with an eye not towards producing a "western," but to writing a novel about the true lived experience of the West. I think Wallace Stegner would have been quite proud of this novel. Here you find the women and men that the central character in Angle of Repose, Susan Ward, met along the way and then left behind, dragged along by her husband. These characters stay, stake a claim, and face the consequences. They are written with subtlety, deftness, and an unflinching but sensitive eye. In the very early exposition, many characters seem as if they're being set up to become cliches or caricatures, just stand-ins for a 'type.' Not one of them ends up there, to my great relief.
This novel is, in my mind, a tale of The West-- a place of so much promise unfulfilled, the ways the Myth were slowly captured, crushed, buried by the places its mournful seekers were fleeing. But it is also, like any great novel about the mythos of The West, a novel about identity, the power to make new things, and the most basic of human urges.
I think this novel is what happens when an actual woman gets to sit down and write a novel about the West, with an eye not towards producing a "western," but to writing a novel about the true lived experience of the West. I think Wallace Stegner would have been quite proud of this novel. Here you find the women and men that the central character in Angle of Repose, Susan Ward, met along the way and then left behind, dragged along by her husband. These characters stay, stake a claim, and face the consequences. They are written with subtlety, deftness, and an unflinching but sensitive eye. In the very early exposition, many characters seem as if they're being set up to become cliches or caricatures, just stand-ins for a 'type.' Not one of them ends up there, to my great relief.
This novel is, in my mind, a tale of The West-- a place of so much promise unfulfilled, the ways the Myth were slowly captured, crushed, buried by the places its mournful seekers were fleeing. But it is also, like any great novel about the mythos of The West, a novel about identity, the power to make new things, and the most basic of human urges.
July 13, 2012
I am in love with this book; the characters, the world they live in, the style of which it was all written. The only problem I can voice is that upon finishing, I wanted more! Reading Volmer's novel brought me straight to the Gold Rush and I didn't want to leave, pages flipped like a cartoon Tasmanian Devil was in the room and my husband was ignored. Sorry, honey!
Worth your time! =)
Note: This was a Goodreads Give-Away. Not only did I receive the book in record speed, but Mary Volmer included two bookmarks and a lovely hand-written note. Both story and author exceeded my expectations.
Worth your time! =)
Note: This was a Goodreads Give-Away. Not only did I receive the book in record speed, but Mary Volmer included two bookmarks and a lovely hand-written note. Both story and author exceeded my expectations.
March 9, 2014
Impressive from a historical standpoint, Crown of Dust captures the era that it is set in, a difficult task for the California Gold Rush era. Switching between characters in a way that immerses you in the world and story, Volmer has created a wonderful novel that comes alive and off the page. Alex is a fascinating character that draws you in from the beginning, constantly asking you to continue reading her story. Crown of Dust is impossible to put down!
October 25, 2011
Stunning. Androgyny abounds in this all too bright narrative. The story is driven by details as sharp as stone with characters who block out the sun, carrying hopes too big for their own good and crushing fears that linger with the reader. Volmer's art seeps through skin and colors our vision like the California dreamscape she paints in this breath-taking debut novel.
August 20, 2012
An excellent read, especially for those of us raised in California. Volmer's attention to historical details paints a vivid picture of the California gold rush. The main character, Alex's story unfolds delightfully to reveal a complex and intriguing background. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction or novels set in California.
October 6, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I usually have particularly genre I stick to, but this was well worth the venture outside my norm. I loved the language and speech of the book. It truly was reminiscent of another time and culture. All the characters were so amazingly crafted and unique.
July 18, 2013
A deep, rich, and compelling novel by a friend and colleague.
December 1, 2022
Crown of Dust main character is a teenage biological girl presenting as Alex , a male . Alex is thrust alone into the mentoring of Emaline , an unmarried woman running the Victoria Hotel , in California during the Gold Rush era . You are rooting for both Alex and Emaline throughout the book as both have obviously very difficult issues and circumstances that both are fighting mightily and haltingly to overcome . Emaline has lost a husband on the trail to California and has resigned herself to a life of unbridled outspokenness and extroversion with men and women both . Alex , on the other hand is as introverted and inexperienced in her sexuality as Emaline is extroverted and experienced . Yet they gradually developed a very strong bond and relationship.
Nothing in the book is totally explicit . Your mind extrapolates as to what is going on the characters minds much like you might do in real life with real people which is part of the unique charm of the book . Plus , due to Alex’s hidden secret it is apparent that Alex is wondering what people might suspect as he is obviously endeavoring without finality to decide on her course of gender and sexual identity .
There is deft irony and humor in the writing as well as excellent paragraphs that the reader will be compelled to reread much in the same manner of the writing of Amor Towles .
All in all a page turner from beginning to end with more revelations as to the inner feelings and thoughts of the characters as the book progresses climaxing at the stunning end .
Nothing in the book is totally explicit . Your mind extrapolates as to what is going on the characters minds much like you might do in real life with real people which is part of the unique charm of the book . Plus , due to Alex’s hidden secret it is apparent that Alex is wondering what people might suspect as he is obviously endeavoring without finality to decide on her course of gender and sexual identity .
There is deft irony and humor in the writing as well as excellent paragraphs that the reader will be compelled to reread much in the same manner of the writing of Amor Towles .
All in all a page turner from beginning to end with more revelations as to the inner feelings and thoughts of the characters as the book progresses climaxing at the stunning end .
March 8, 2023
Alex Ford has a secret, but then, so does everyone else in Motherlode, California, a mining town somewhere east of Sacramento. Known as the Golden Boy for the huge nugget Alex finds, life becomes more complicated, especially as new people arrive. Everyone has dreams. Emaline, owner of the Victoria Inn, wants velvet chairs, curtains, and the freedom she has gained to be her own woman. Limpy dreams of getting rich quick. David yearns to finally prove himself to his family back in Cornwall. The newcomers dream of making Motherlode into civilization but risk destroying it in the process. What they all find is that greed, prejudices, and societal rules can damage all dreams.
I was fortunate enough to win this book in a giveaway and am only sorry I hadn't read it sooner. Mary Volmer has written a book rich in characters with an accuracy that shows she knows her subject well. I especially liked the descriptions of the physical town, the mines, and the countryside around Motherlode. The characters are far from perfect but they are believable, richly developed, and multi dimensional. Ms. Volmer's sentences are uniquely beautiful (as in the bats flitted through the air "like whispered sentences"). I highly recommend this book.
I was fortunate enough to win this book in a giveaway and am only sorry I hadn't read it sooner. Mary Volmer has written a book rich in characters with an accuracy that shows she knows her subject well. I especially liked the descriptions of the physical town, the mines, and the countryside around Motherlode. The characters are far from perfect but they are believable, richly developed, and multi dimensional. Ms. Volmer's sentences are uniquely beautiful (as in the bats flitted through the air "like whispered sentences"). I highly recommend this book.
March 13, 2023
Crown of dust by Mary Volmer
(An audiobook read on Scribd)
When a young woman on the run dressed as a man stumbles into the gold town of Motherlode. She plans to stay at the Victoria. (A hotel/bar/ and other things) for three days while she figures out what to do from there. However, something about the place enchants her and soon she is working her own gold claim.
Life is rough for the little community but no one asks questions for they all have secrets they’d rather not share. Emeline the owner of the Victoria and the towns only women looks after them all in her gruff way and they have grown into a family.
Then gold is found in „them thar hills“ and as stated in another story I read „here comes the respectables to ruin everything“. As word is out there is definite word of a gold strike, men bring their families to try their luck and at no time at all they try to make the town into a copy of what they see as respectable with no respect for the people who already live there.
The book is interesting, heartwrenching, but also has moments of true friendship and understandings. Well worth the read.
(An audiobook read on Scribd)
When a young woman on the run dressed as a man stumbles into the gold town of Motherlode. She plans to stay at the Victoria. (A hotel/bar/ and other things) for three days while she figures out what to do from there. However, something about the place enchants her and soon she is working her own gold claim.
Life is rough for the little community but no one asks questions for they all have secrets they’d rather not share. Emeline the owner of the Victoria and the towns only women looks after them all in her gruff way and they have grown into a family.
Then gold is found in „them thar hills“ and as stated in another story I read „here comes the respectables to ruin everything“. As word is out there is definite word of a gold strike, men bring their families to try their luck and at no time at all they try to make the town into a copy of what they see as respectable with no respect for the people who already live there.
The book is interesting, heartwrenching, but also has moments of true friendship and understandings. Well worth the read.
August 9, 2017
Female characters in the Old West are frequently portrayed as either prostitutes or teetotalers. That's why it's so refreshing to read a book about a young woman during the California Gold Rush who struggles just like the rest of the boys to handle her pickax and jug of moonshine.
June 4, 2017
4.5 really
June 17, 2017
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER... Or at least, they didn't die in Motherlode. One of the best historical fictions I've read this year.
March 16, 2019
Not my normal genre so I didn't get in as deep as I might have but good story about the gold rush days. Young women survive in their own ways amongst the lawless west.
December 11, 2024
Kind of meandered around, but a good story.
Read
August 14, 2025DNF
January 17, 2015
I would never have sought out this book but when "Crown of Dust" was chosen to be the January selection of my local-library-sponsored book club I decided to give it a try.
I’m someone who hails from Western Kentucky so tales of Gold Rush days have never been prominent on my list of interesting topics to explore. But this year I live in Central California, so my interest in this story was piqued a bit more, especially when it became apparent "Crown of Dust" was set close to the not-too-distant-from-my-house cities of Sacramento and Grass Valley. However since you reader are not necessarily a California resident I would like to impress upon you that this is a very unusual, not-so-simple depiction of a finite time in our country’s past. And whether you are interested in history or not this author did a wonderful job of making her story live.
There are no cowboys in this western and nobody is particularly a hero. In the beginning of the story everybody in Motherlode, California, the very small and fictional town at the center of this tale, is poor but Gold Rush dreaming of future riches. There are likeable guys and not-so-good guys and there is a woman at the center of the story. Well, really two women but nobody knows that at first. For me the setting itself is a fascinating character in this story because Ms. Volmer chooses simple but effective verbiage, constructs just the right sentences, to portray a dusty, dirty, dangerous and utterly delightful place to be at a frustrating, lawless and totally exhilarating time. I could just see Motherlode and found it was sometimes disgusting, sometimes exciting. Never boring.
Although most of the story’s several colorful characters hope to find gold, "Crown of Dust" is not just about the search. Volmer slowly presents each of Motherlode’s occupants; awarding the reader with clear enough pictures that one comes to know them at least as well as many of us know our neighbors. I felt like I met Emaline who owned The Victoria (the “inn” at the center of the story); I could see her famous upper lip, was familiar with her three dresses and became comfortable with the varied ways she chose to control her town. The reader is introduced slowly to Alex (short for Alexandra), who has her reasons for passing as a man. We come to understand her loneliness and guilt and realize Alex suffers from what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. And the men, the “regulars,” are gross, dirty, thirsty and rowdy. But they are also companions who share a passion for gold dreaming and gold hunting. In Motherlode, they’ve discovered a comfortable place, maybe for the first time in their lives.
As many of us do, some of Motherlode’s citizens were denying or hiding from their past lives. I really enjoyed the author’s surprisingly subtle, on and off mentions of incidents in these characters’ former lives as she gradually began to reveal their traumas. Several things are never explained fully but the story was handled so well that this lack of understanding never felt frustrating to me. Rather, the unknown just added to the mystery.
Very un-Western-like topics are woven into the story. Inferences of homosexuality are made (way back then!) but never really confirmed. Are they or aren’t they? At least one inter-racial love affair is prominent.
I’m intrigued by and truly appreciate this writer’s ability to bring Gold Rush days to life for me. She relates her story with rich detail and provides a satisfying ending while, at the same time, gently holding back, inviting her reader to decide some of the nuances of the story for themselves.
I would recommend "Crown of Dust". It was a very nice surprise for me. What reader among us doesn’t enjoy that!
I’m someone who hails from Western Kentucky so tales of Gold Rush days have never been prominent on my list of interesting topics to explore. But this year I live in Central California, so my interest in this story was piqued a bit more, especially when it became apparent "Crown of Dust" was set close to the not-too-distant-from-my-house cities of Sacramento and Grass Valley. However since you reader are not necessarily a California resident I would like to impress upon you that this is a very unusual, not-so-simple depiction of a finite time in our country’s past. And whether you are interested in history or not this author did a wonderful job of making her story live.
There are no cowboys in this western and nobody is particularly a hero. In the beginning of the story everybody in Motherlode, California, the very small and fictional town at the center of this tale, is poor but Gold Rush dreaming of future riches. There are likeable guys and not-so-good guys and there is a woman at the center of the story. Well, really two women but nobody knows that at first. For me the setting itself is a fascinating character in this story because Ms. Volmer chooses simple but effective verbiage, constructs just the right sentences, to portray a dusty, dirty, dangerous and utterly delightful place to be at a frustrating, lawless and totally exhilarating time. I could just see Motherlode and found it was sometimes disgusting, sometimes exciting. Never boring.
Although most of the story’s several colorful characters hope to find gold, "Crown of Dust" is not just about the search. Volmer slowly presents each of Motherlode’s occupants; awarding the reader with clear enough pictures that one comes to know them at least as well as many of us know our neighbors. I felt like I met Emaline who owned The Victoria (the “inn” at the center of the story); I could see her famous upper lip, was familiar with her three dresses and became comfortable with the varied ways she chose to control her town. The reader is introduced slowly to Alex (short for Alexandra), who has her reasons for passing as a man. We come to understand her loneliness and guilt and realize Alex suffers from what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. And the men, the “regulars,” are gross, dirty, thirsty and rowdy. But they are also companions who share a passion for gold dreaming and gold hunting. In Motherlode, they’ve discovered a comfortable place, maybe for the first time in their lives.
As many of us do, some of Motherlode’s citizens were denying or hiding from their past lives. I really enjoyed the author’s surprisingly subtle, on and off mentions of incidents in these characters’ former lives as she gradually began to reveal their traumas. Several things are never explained fully but the story was handled so well that this lack of understanding never felt frustrating to me. Rather, the unknown just added to the mystery.
Very un-Western-like topics are woven into the story. Inferences of homosexuality are made (way back then!) but never really confirmed. Are they or aren’t they? At least one inter-racial love affair is prominent.
I’m intrigued by and truly appreciate this writer’s ability to bring Gold Rush days to life for me. She relates her story with rich detail and provides a satisfying ending while, at the same time, gently holding back, inviting her reader to decide some of the nuances of the story for themselves.
I would recommend "Crown of Dust". It was a very nice surprise for me. What reader among us doesn’t enjoy that!
January 4, 2011
Mary Volmer has crafted a book that captures the feelings and textures of the old west, and living in CA during the gold rush. She has created a strong woman, Emaline, that runs a bar and----even though she is not attractive and has a self-claimed mustache----she services most of the men in the area. Into this very small town arrives new prospectors every day---one being a young boy, Alex---shy and trying to keep himself invisible from everyone else. We soon learn that this person is a woman, who is running away from her past----and has to struggle to survive this strange land.
I have always been intrigued by this choice of some women to become men----just to survive. In those days, there were only three types of women: Prostitutes, married women, or those that disguise themselves as men to protect themselves. There was one such true story that I had read once about a man that lived his whole life on his own----very sheltered and away from everyone. It wasn't until he died, and people came to prepare his body----that they find that he was really a woman.
The writing in this book is amazing and draws the reader in. I was prepared for it to be a bit of fluff, but since I was intrigued, I decided to give it a try. I was very surprised by the results! The author draws you in, and uses her writing to take you back----really experiencing the look, smell and feel of what it must have been like to live during the gold rush.
I have always been intrigued by this choice of some women to become men----just to survive. In those days, there were only three types of women: Prostitutes, married women, or those that disguise themselves as men to protect themselves. There was one such true story that I had read once about a man that lived his whole life on his own----very sheltered and away from everyone. It wasn't until he died, and people came to prepare his body----that they find that he was really a woman.
The writing in this book is amazing and draws the reader in. I was prepared for it to be a bit of fluff, but since I was intrigued, I decided to give it a try. I was very surprised by the results! The author draws you in, and uses her writing to take you back----really experiencing the look, smell and feel of what it must have been like to live during the gold rush.
January 31, 2012
This books seems to be a culmination of a bunch of books I just finished:
The Sisters Brothers takes place around the same time period. I don't normally read Westerns/gold rush books, not because I don't like them but they just aren't my favorite.
The Sisters Brothers
Touch which is about a town that was founded during a gold rush but went on to become a lumber town. Touch
and Blindspot, which takes place in the late 18th century Boston but is about a girl who dresses like a boy to become a painter's apprentice, and the painter falls in love with him despite struggling with the idea of loving a "boy". Man discovers boy is a girl and can safely love, the end. Blindspot
Not that this book wasn't original; it's just ironic that I recently read several books with competing plotlines. I did enjoy the characters and wish the story was a bit longer.
The Sisters Brothers takes place around the same time period. I don't normally read Westerns/gold rush books, not because I don't like them but they just aren't my favorite.
The Sisters Brothers
Touch which is about a town that was founded during a gold rush but went on to become a lumber town. Touch
and Blindspot, which takes place in the late 18th century Boston but is about a girl who dresses like a boy to become a painter's apprentice, and the painter falls in love with him despite struggling with the idea of loving a "boy". Man discovers boy is a girl and can safely love, the end. Blindspot
Not that this book wasn't original; it's just ironic that I recently read several books with competing plotlines. I did enjoy the characters and wish the story was a bit longer.
August 20, 2012
I can't really fault the book or the writing but it just lacked.... something! You know? Before you argue that maybe it was the subject or the plot, it wasn't. It was something I wanted to read and I'm interested in but across the board it just didn't have that sparkle.
Alex was of course the most interesting character. After a miscarriage, she ditched her overbearing and religious Grandmother and landed in the small mining town of Motherlode. Except she decides to disguise herself as a man and heads to hard work with the other miners, searching the rivers for gold. Throughout the book you're always wondering when she's about to be found out and of course it's not til the end, really.
Okay so it was interesting enough and I didn't hate it but, like I said, it just was missing a bit of pizzazz.
January 31, 2011
I’m not the biggest fan of historical fiction / period pieces. I disliked “C” by Thomas McCarthy and to say that I loathe what I’ve read of Neal Stephenson’s work would be an accurate assessment. So, as you can imagine, I groaned internally when it was announced that Mary Volmer’s “Crown of Dust” was the pick for the month of February in my contemporary book club. I just joined the previous month, so skipping over this selection seemed out of the question to me. Honestly I’ll give anything a try, but I wasn’t all that excited going in. These facts should be taken into consideration while reading the review that follows.
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November 5, 2011
I have been drawn to wild west, gold rush type stories quite a bit lately, and most of them have been pretty good. that being said, perhaps I have become jaded, because crown of dust left me wanting more. a boom town, lots of colorful gold miners, a boy with a secret, and a banged out, fat old whore who owns the only inn/bar/bawdy house, with herself the only bawd, seems like it would have plenty of material, but it just didn't do it for me. maybe I'll hunt for a different era or genre for a while.
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