Silver Echoes: A Historical Roaring Twenties Novel
This dual-timeline novel jumps between daughter Silver Tabor in 1918-1925 and mother Baby Doe Tabor in 1932. Both women experienced incredible wealth from silver mining, which dropped out from beneath them, leaving them destitute and living in a mining camp in Colorado. The story follows the outlandish antics of Silver, a singer and dancer, who seeks fame in order to make up for her family’s fall from fortune. The story never settles for long in one scene or one place, jumping rapidly from one event to the next. While it does serve the chaotic interior of the main character, the reader never gets a firm sense of place.
The second timeline, told by Baby Doe, an elderly woman without contact with the rest of her family, is really the heart of the narrative. She clings to the family’s Matchless Mine, believing that redemption lies within. Years after Silver’s death, a former suitor comes to Baby Doe to write a screenplay about the Tabors, and the two form an unlikely friendship. This is where the narrative shines, not in the complicated assignations and personality switching that appears in Silver’s timeline. Without that heart, Silver’s second personality seems like an unnecessary construct, and the parade of vices—likely factually accurate—seem forced and unreal. Outside of Baby Doe’s timeline, the novel consists of frenetic episodes rather than a clear narrative arc with building tension. Despite this, many readers will still find Silver Tabor’s life compelling.
