Newlyweds Lizzie and Harvey Doe are on a train heading west. Harvey’s father had purchased a gold mine and wants him to go and work the mine in Central City.

Horace Tabor and his wife, Augusta, own a mercantile store in Central City. They have lived in this town for years and sell all kinds of supplies to new prospectors who arrive in town every day. To his wife’s chagrin, Horace likes to sneak off and pan for gold. Today, he has found a vein of silver and is thrilled at his new wealth.

Harvey is called home to care for his ailing mother leaving Lizzie behind. Trying to fit in, she finds people seem to be jealous of her beauty which gains her the nickname of Baby Doe as her eyes look like those of a young doe. To support herself, she works in a haberdashery. Men love her beauty. When Harvey fails to return, she files for divorce which is unheard of for women.

Before long, Baby Doe and Horace Tabor fall in love. He is now extremely wealthy and has gotten into politics. His wife, Augusta, does not want to give him a divorce. Will Horace and Baby Doe ever have a life together?

This is a true story that shows the many people who worked hard to mine for gold and silver. It describes the wealth that many of them earned, along with the heartache of those who did not find fortune. I found the politics of the time period to be fascinating. People were willing to do just about anything to rub elbows with the wealthy and the politically successful.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Favorite Quotes:

You have the attention span of a squirrel. Maybe I should bring acorns next time.

“I prefer women with a past.” Wilde winked. “They’re always so damned amusing.” Peter inserted a long skeleton key into the dressing room door. “Don’t give up on love, darling,” Wilde advised her. “One should always be in love. That’s the reason one should never marry.”


My Review:

Ms. Rosenberg has an entertaining and commanding writing style that squeezed my heart while raising my awareness. I have to choose carefully when picking up historical fiction, as the poor treatment of women tends to cause me dental damage from grinding my teeth. This entertaining and enlightening blending of fact and fiction was often tragic, as was undoubtedly the life of most women of the time, rich or poor. I was unfamiliar with the history and notoriety of the featured characters and having my curiosity sparked, I found myself hitting up Mr. Google for more information, which in turn led me to YouTube videos - which always results in me losing hours of time. Funny how that happens…

Review will be posted on Amazon 5/29/2019

I received this ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review. This isnt a genre that I read alot in, yet having said that I found the book to be very good. I could tell the author spent alot of time researching the time period so that her protrayal was pretty accurate. What a hard life it would have been living in that day and age. I felt like the author had the ability to bring the story alive so that you actually felt like you were in the book. I would recommend it to others that enjoy this genre of books.

Historical novel during the 1870's involving mining in Colorado. Intriguing story of Baby Doe Tabor. Powerful woman during challenging times.

Thank you for the advanced copy of Gold Digger in exchange for my complete and honest opinion.

Wow!!!! This was a first book by this author and I loved it!!! This fast paced book is filled with such amazing characters!!! Highly recommend

I really enjoyed reading this novel based on a real person. Baby Doe first went to Colorado with her first husband. She married Harvey in hopes to be able to help her parents with money. It as interesting to learn about this woman’s life. She seems to have been a little before the times. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series that will continue her life story. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

An amazing story on one woman's journey through life in the late 1800's west and how she became the wife of a miner that struck it rich. "Her beauty was a gift from God, Mam said, a gold plated guarantee she'd marry a gentleman of means and wouldn't have to take in mending." She was a newlywed and she and her husband were headed to Colorado where they were going to work a gold mine.
That set to stage for what was to come when her husband abandoned her and she had to make her way. But meeting Silver King Horace Tabor, she seemed to be set to live a good life. Never being accepted in polite society was hard and there was a lot that happened.
Follow this amazing story and become riveted as you turn the pages as fast as you can..

At the end of 2017 did I read the fantastic The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg. I recommend the book warmly btw. So, I was really looking forward to reading Gold Digger, The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor. Now, I had never heard of Baby Doe Tabor before I read the book and that made this book extra interesting to read. I always like to learn more about real people.

Rebecca Rosenberg is a fabulous writer and I enjoyed getting a view into the often dangerous life of miners. Baby Doe or Elizabeth McCourt Tabor that was her real name married Harvey Doe. This was not a love match, she needed a husband with money to help her family. Together they traveled to Colorado to work in a gold mine that belonged to Doe's family. To say that they lived a happily married life is an exaggeration. Love would come later, with a totally different man. A man who would leave his wife for Baby Doe. Horace Tabor a mining millionaire.

Now, I don't want to give away too much of the story. I purposely didn't check up Baby Doe in Wikipedia while reading the book because I don't want to read anything that would spoiler the book. It's much more fun that way. Now, I found this book just didn't click with me the same way The Secret Life of Mrs. London. And, I guess it all boils down to the fact that I found Baby Doe's life just not as interesting as Mrs. Londons. I found in the end that what I did like the most was the small cameos by Doc Holliday and Oscar Wilde. As for Horace Tabor, he was just not a man that intrigued me, a self-made millionaire who had a tendency to risk a bit too much. For some reason, he just didn't fascinate me.

Now, the book is absolutely read worthy. My problem was more the subject then the writing. And, when you fail to connect with characters or/and the story, then it's hard to enjoy a book, despite the writing. However, if this book seems to be just your thing, then I say, go for it!

Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor by Rebecca Rosenberg is a historical novel set during a period in American History when the search for gold led to the establishment of many towns in the West and the state of Colorado. Not since school have I gained such insight into the establishment of the West and this period in American History. This is the story of the impact of the search for gold and wealth on one woman’s life, Lizzie McCourt Doe, later to be nicknamed Baby Doe.

Lizzie Doe came west to run a gold mine owned by her new husband’s father. This is where the story begins. It is the start of the struggles to acclimate to new surroundings in the West that are much more austere than in the East. This is the story of love, loss, tragedy and strength of character. Do not let the name Baby Doe lead you to think that this is a woman who is helpless and needy. It is the furthest thing from the truth. Baby Doe is a strong, resilient and fierce woman who does not fit the mold of women at this time in history. Baby Doe did not let hardships and loss destroy her, she used it to strengthen both herself and her resolve.

This is a very well written book. Rebecca Rosenberg paints a very vivid picture of the mining towns, that grew into cities and the characters that inhabit them. I was able to visualize the people, the places and the action. The description was so subtle and was made so much a part of the story that I sometimes wondered how I could see the action and the people as well as sense their character. The characters are built with distinctive qualities that you can either support or dislike. I had some very emotional reactions during the reading of this book. I really liked the character of Baby Doe Tabor and I rooted for her throughout.

I highly recommend this well written novel of historical fiction to everyone. It has all the elements that a reader wants in a good book. I look forward to reading more books by Rebecca Rosenberg.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #LionHeartPublishing for approving my request. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

After reading this I realized this story though not nonfiction is based on a true story. The sequel, which I can't wait to read will be releasing in September.
Calling all historical fiction readers, you're going to really enjoy this one.
It is rich in historical detail. Very word heavy, you'll love the descriptions. Lizzie aka Baby Doe comes from poverty but with her exceptional beauty her Mama always said she would marry rich.
This woman is a survivor, just twenty years old she travels to Colorado with her husband to work a gold mine with her new husband. It wasn't long before he deserted her leaving her hungry and pregnant to work the mine herself.
With her beauty attracting men like bees to honey it wasn't long before they were swarming. Rich,poor they all wanted her and not to have a cup of tea with them.
After she moves to Leadville she fell in love with and marries a prospector twice her age.
Horace Tabor strikes the biggest silver vein in history . Though she is now rich Baby Doe is never accepted into polite society despite wearing the latest fashions and living in opulence.
Scandal,wealth,power we encounter them all before the bottom drops out.
Baby Doe is a real spit-fire, I think you're gonna enjoy reading about her.

Published May 28th 2019 by LION HEART PUBLISHING.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I've never heard of Baby Doe Tabor and I don't usually read stories set in the 1800s, but I fell in love with Rebecca Rosenberg's writing when I listened to the audiobook The Secret Life of Mrs. London. So when I saw at NetGalley that she had a new book coming out I knew I had to give it a try. Once again Rosenberg proved she is a powerful storyteller and I fell in love with Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor.

It is kind of ironic that a woman is looked down upon and called a gold digger when the only real opportunity to improve her life is through marriage to a well-to-do man. However, when men only associate with a wealthy man in order to receive monetary benefit from the relationship it is business as usual. It was hard to tell who the real gold diggers were in this story as many of the characters only associate with Horace Tabor as long as the money flows towards them. As soon as he falls on hard times they all desert him with only a few remembering his kindness when they were in financial difficulty themselves.

Baby Doe really comes to life in the pages of this story. Actual excerpts from her diaries remind you that she was a real person. But it is the story that Rosenberg weaves around her that endears Baby Doe to the reader. You feel her struggles and her triumphant. I never really saw her as a gold digger though. Yes, she wanted a good match in marriage as that was the only option open to her if she wanted to get out of poverty. But she was also willing to do whatever it took to make sure her marriage was a success. Even if that meant actually digging for gold. When I think of a gold digger (the derogatory term) I think of a woman who wants the splendid lavished on her without any work on her part.

I can understand why she was snubbed. Divorce was so rare and held such a horrible connotation. Though with all the philandering men, you have to wonder if it wasn't jealousy on women's part that had them snubbing the divorcee.

If you are like me and don't think you would like a Wild West story, you should know that there is so much more to this story. It is definitely a story of a strong woman. The things Baby Doe had to overcome during a time when a woman was little more than a man's arm dressing is remarkable. Even in today's time, she would be a strong woman with her "do whatever it takes" attitude.

The ending was a bit abrupt because I had so many questions about what came of Baby Doe and her two daughters. Rosenberg (or the publishers) must have known that many readers would feel the same way as there is a note right after the end stating that there was a sequel planned for next year. With this knowledge, I felt that it was a natural place to end this chapter in Baby Doe's life. And since she is a real person, I can probably find a least some answers to my questions just by reading her Wikipedia page if I don't want to wait until next year.

What a fun book. It certainly had ups and downs, as well as common catastrophes of the times, but I seriously had fun reading this book. Baby Doe Tabor is a strong, capable women in a time when such characteristics are not popular or even fashionable in ladies.

This story takes us from the train that Lizzie and her newlywed husband, Harvey take to Colorado to a time when she is friends with the President. We follow her excitement and disappointments. The characters are interesting. At once, they are self-deprecating, egotistical, humble and lovestruck. The author portrays the early west as wild while still holding on to its societal norms and prejudices. The tale weaves in between minute towns, desolate mines and cities. The writing is concise and it reads easily. I wanted to read it in one sitting.

I highly recommend this book. I tend to read more Civil War and World War II historical fiction. This was a breath of fresh air and left me scampering to find more from this era. I have already joined Rebecca Rosenberg’s website so that I can be notified upon the publication of the second installment of Baby Doe Tabor’s fascinating life.


I received an ARC from Lion Heart Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book.

Wonderful Historical Fiction
What a wonderful rendition of Baby Doe's life and legacy. I was raised on the stories out of Central City and Leadville. I am a Colorado native born of native Coloradans. I even went to high school with a Tabor, the great-granddaughter of Horace and Augusta. I have hiked and explored all of the areas in this book. As well as visited every museum in the mining areas multiple times. The whore house museums are the best! At any rate, the author stayed close to the facts throughout this book. The book began painfully slow, I stayed with it and it got much better. I received this ARC book from Net Galley for free and this is my honest review.

Gold Digger by Rebecca Rosenberg. I find this historical novel interesting. Some parts of this story are very sad., and sometimes you did not like the characters. Rebecca Rosenberg keeps the authors entertained with the many episodes of Baby Doe. The descriptions of the mines and hotels were there so that you felt like you were in a movie.

Interesting read about Colorado's history Gold and Silver era. Elizabeth Doe moves to Colorado with her husband Harvey Doe in her early 20's. Thinking she helped her family solve their poverty by marrying a rich family. Things don't go so smoothly at the Gold mine her husband's family own. You learn how she takes control to make her life better. After leaving her first husband during an era when women didn't divorce. She moves to Leadville and falls in love with Horace Tabor a man twice her age. Tabor becomes rich by mining Silver. Fallow Baby Doe on her journey from Rags to richs back to rags. Learn why she Colorado legend who inspired opera and movies .

Baby Doe is a complicated woman. I found her devotion and determination admirable but her quiet beauty a vicious tool of manipulation. I felt empathy towards her and at times I found her loathing. A victim of love as well as a victor. Doe was judged and convicted by her peers for her unacceptable choices and decisions. A time in history where women were nothing more than ornaments to cook and clean for their spouses, certainly not fitting for an independent soul such as Doe. Her strength and independence frowned upon by society. Doe’s story is fascinating and she has a captivating aura. Her strength compensates for her flaws. Her undeniable love of Tabor was evident from beginning to end. The ending piqued my interest for the sequel, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this plucky woman.

In her Afterword, Rebecca Rosenberg confesses that Baby Doe Tabor 'captured her imagination' from the time she was five years old. Her enthusiasm for her subject shines through in this book although I'll admit I'd never heard of Baby Doe Tabor up to this point. As the book description sets out, Gold Digger is a rags to riches, riches to rags and possibly back again story of a woman determined to control her own destiny and prove she has brains to match her beauty.

Along the way, Baby Doe (the nickname she acquires on account of her beautiful doe-like eyes) endures personal tragedy, estrangement from her family and the scorn of members of society, mainly other women. She also finally meets her soulmate and encounters some famous figures from history, including Doc Holliday and Oscar Wilde.

What I hadn't realised is that the story of Baby Doe Tabor does not end with Gold Digger. In fact, the book ends at a pivotal moment in her life. The author freely admits it's 'only half the story' and promises the rest will unfold in a sequel, Silver Dollar (the name of Baby Doe's second daughter), planned for publication in 2020.

I have to say Gold Digger didn't quite capture my imagination in the way that Rebecca Rosenberg's previous book, The Secret Life of Mrs. London did. I think that's because the male characters in Gold Digger, Harvey and Horace, can't help but be pale shadows in comparison to the larger than life characters of Harry Houdini and Jack London in the earlier book. Having said that, Gold Digger is a well-told story of a remarkable woman with an admirable determination to make her own way in a man's world.

Baby Doe Tabor's rags to riches. . . and then back to rags again story is told with verve and colorful detail in Rebecca Rosenberg's novelized account of the life of the real life woman who was once the richest - and most beautiful - gal in America.
Gold Digger covers the first part of Baby Doe's life, with a second book to follow, but even half of her life holds enough drama, triumph and reversal of fortunes to entertain and enthrall.

Virtually deserted by her first husband, as desperate to support herself and her infant son as well as her family "back home," Baby Doe showed her fortitude in the hard world of Colorado mining before finally snaring 'Silver King' Horace Tabor as her second husband. The richest man in America rose from privation to become Leadville mayor, and then Washington senator, striking riches in his 50s after a life of unremitting toil.

Despite their age difference, his married state, and wide cynicism about Baby Doe's motives, their's was a love match, as the book so ably demonstrates. When Horace divorces his wife and they marry with the US President in attendance, it seems that Baby Doe's most vaulted dreams have all come to pass.

Set in the Colorado of the 1880s, Gold Digger brings to life the desperately tough world on gold mining in a period where hard-nosed industrial mining was replacing the backwoods fantasy of panning in crystal clear streams. Well-realized settings, strong characterization, Rebecca Rosenberg serves up a poignant portrait of a woman who came close to beating the odds, but in the end was deserted by Lady Luck.

She talks about her work on The Joys of Binge Reading podcast, https://thejoysofbingereading.com/rebecca-rosenberg-golden-women/

The story of Baby Doe Tabor is exciting—full of love, rich living, and beautiful things, while at the same time we get to witness the hard life she lived and the rags to riches and back to rags struggles she endured. She definitely was a very strong woman and one who was not afraid to speak her mind, which was pretty much unheard of at that time in the old West. What a spitfire she was!

I love that this story took me back to that old West and let me experience life the way it was back then. I became immersed in that time period and learned so much about the silver mining in that area. It was interesting to experience the life of an 'outsider' to the area as Baby Doe was shunned by society and was never really accepted. I admired her strength and her determination to get what she wanted.

Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor is a must read for historical fiction lovers. It truly gives us a look at the tough times, but also the glorious times, of the old West through the eyes of an amazing woman.

I won a copy of this book and also got a copy via NetGalley from the author for my complete, unbiased, and honest review.

This book was so good from the very beginning. I was a bit unsure whether I was going to like it at first but after reading the very first page I was hooked. It weaves so much history throughout the story. I learned so much about the gold and silver mines in Colorado. I also remembered a President that I had forgotten about. The 21st president of the United States. President Arthur. I know my presidents usually but for some reason forgot about him so I googled him. I love when I read a book that makes me a bit smarter.

I loved this book. I loved most of the characters. There were some that I detested but that happens. It had so much feeling. Deep love, aching, heartbreaking pain, a bit of laughter. All the feels I expect from a good book. Baby Doe was a great beauty and all the men wanted her. When she gave her heart it was for real. It was for life. Not for money but for true love. I wept in a few parts of this book. It broke my heart and then I would feel so happy. I hated how the women treated Baby Doe. They should have given her a chance. She was kind, tender, loving, giving to a fault and loyal. Horace Tabor fell in love with her and made her his wife against all the crazy odds of the Colorado laws. I could not believe that a woman could not get a divorce back then. That was crazy, but true. It was hard for Horace to get a divorce so he could marry Baby Doe. Theirs is a love story that transcends the ages. And what an age difference they had. Her young and beautiful and him somewhat old. He was actually quite a bit older than her but they had the thing that keeps a couple together. Complete love and loyalty.

This book was so well researched. I felt like I was right there. In the mines, in the mountains, in the hotels, opera houses and even in the White House. Ms Rosenberg did an outstanding job with this book. She brought history to life with words. Words that I won’t soon forget. I treasured each word in this book. It was truly a beautiful story of love and loss.

I can’t wait for the sequel now.

A great big 5 stars and more if I could.
Thank you to #NetGalley #Rebecca Rosenberg for this book.