Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor
Rebecca Rosenberg, author of The Secret Life of Mrs. London, offers up a fascinating insight into another American woman of substance with Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.
The novel opens in April 1878, with newlyweds Harvey and Lizzie Doe on a train to Colorado to make their fortune mining gold. Lizzie is determined to help her family back home and support her husband in this new endeavor, but neither the mine, nor her husband, fulfil their early promise. Soon Lizzie finds herself abandoned and pregnant, but with an inner strength that will carry her to love and riches.
Gold Digger is a gripping story of female grit and resilience. Lizzie, or Baby Doe, as she becomes known, has a wonderful, indomitable spirit, and Rosenberg brings her physical and emotional challenges vibrantly to life. The story is fast-paced, but also moving. Lizzie faces many hurdles as a woman, an abandoned wife, and then a divorcee and mistress, earning the disapproval of many, including her own, much-loved mother.
Falling in love with millionaire Horace Tabor brings many changes to Baby Doe’s life. As the story moves from Colorado and up to Washington, DC and the swirl of politics, Rosenberg deftly brings late 19th-century America to life. Sharp attention to detail and strong supporting characters flesh out the story. Horace Tabor’s first wife, Augusta, for example, provides an effective foil to Baby Doe—a dour woman with none of Baby Doe’s creativity or drive. There are also several enjoyable cameos, including Doc Holliday, Oscar Wilde, Alva Vanderbilt and the 21st President of the United States, Chester Arthur.
Gold Digger is only part one of Baby Doe’s story. Although complete in itself, readers can look forward to continuing her story in Rosenberg’s next book, Silver Dollar, due to be released later this year.
