Cherokee Rose

Real Women of the American West #3

by Judy Alter

She was born on an Oklahoma ranch, where her father taught her to rope and ride. Filled with daydreams of joining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Tommy Jo Burns knew she was destined for greatness as a famous trick roper. At fourteen, she so impressed President Theodore Roosevelt that he dubbed her America's first cowgirl. But this auspicious beginning forced the hardest choice, leaving her parents and sheltered ranch life to create her own family of friends on the road with Colonel Zack Miller's 101 Ranch Show. It was a new and exciting life, and she took her name from the prairie wildflower that matched her restless Cherokee Rose.
From headlining at Madison Square Garden to surviving disasters in the ring, and from performing for English royalty to competing in a rodeo, her adventures brought different men into her the shy, awkward ranch hand Billy Rogers, who emerged on the show circuit as Will Rogers; a handsome husband who resented her fame; a wealthy gambler who taught her - too late - to follow her heart's instincts. Always striving to achieve her dreams and never willing to settle for less, Cherokee Rose became one of the most celebrated women of the West.

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

After an established career writing historical fiction for adults and young adults about women of the nineteenth-century American West, Texas author Judy Alter turned her attention to contemporary cozy mysteries and wrote three series: Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, Blue Plate Café Mysteries, and Oak Grove Mysteries. She has most recently published two titles in her Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries--Saving Irene and Irene in Danger.
Her most recent historical books are The Most Land, the Best Cattle: The Waggoners of Texas and The Second Battle of the Alamo, a study in both Texas and women’s history. Judy’s western fiction has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame at the Fort Worth Public Library. She was named One of 100 Women, Living and Dead, Who Have Left Their Mark on Texas by the Dallas Morning News, and named an Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth in the Arts, 1988, by the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women
Judy is a member Sisters in Crime and Guppies, Women Writing the West, Story Circle Network, a past president of Western Writers of America, and an active member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
Retired after almost thirty years with TCU Press, twenty of them as director, Judy lives in a small cottage—just right for one and a dog—in Fort Worth, Texas with her Bordoodle Sophie. She is the mother of four and the grandmother of seven. Her hobby is cooking, and she’s learning how to cook in a postage-stamp kitchen without a stove. In fact, she wrote a cookbook about it: Gourmet on a Hot Plate.

Reviews

[Margaret Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 21st Century, Tommy Jo Burns would have been different to most young girls of her age, but she would have been accepted as the tomboy that she was. Everybody knows one. Tommy Jo was caught between her parents' expectations for her and her own desire to excel at roping. Longing for adventure and the thrill of the rodeo experience, she kicked over the traces and went after her goal. I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written novel set in an era where convention ruled the day and crossing boundaries brought censure and invited untold difficulties. Although the book was fairly slow moving there was so much content that I dared not miss a word. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women were not to be so unlady like as to ride and rope, much less join a wild west show. That is just what Tommy Jo, A.K.A Cherokee Rose does.
Growing up her father and his ranch hands taught her the life with cattle, horses and roping. Her mother sent her away to school in hopes of making her a lady. Father won out. The little 'lady' went on in life with a rope and horses. Finding herself in front of the president she shows off her skill and he dubes her Cowgirl, little did he know the girls at the convent she schooled at had already branded her that moniker.
From the parade with the president she goes on to be a part of the 101 Ranch Wild West show, a real take of western life vs. the wild and crazy show life being shown at the Buffalo Bill Cody shows. Ironicly Cherokee dreams of being in the Buffalo Bill show more than anything, a sign she had made it in the world of showmanship with trick riding horses and roping.
The years and life are not easy. In and out of love, family secrets turned to a place of comfort and rough riding in all senses of the word.
We travel with Cherokee as she becomes known through her entire life. In the end will she find the true Cherokee, Tommy Jo or simply live her life as a show girl?
This book makes me want to find out even more about the cowgirls, Buffalo Bill Cody's true story and more on the 101 Ranch. This was the first of the series I have read and I wll be going back to find and read the other Real Women of the American West books. I will also be checking out more information on the real cowgirl this was inspired from Lucille Mulhall.
Read this book if you enjoy the old west, strong women and a touch of history of the wild west show times. It isn't a small book or even a light story, it takes you back to times of different thoughts and ways, or does it, do women still struggle to be equal in a 'mans' world and struggle to find their place in them selves and the world around them.