As a Native Californian, one of my favorite time periods to learn about was the Gold Rush. I did not enjoy this story at all as well as the characters.

Wow! If you love historical fiction and exploring the undersold stories of women on the frontier, you're going to love this one. Danger, betrayal, sexuality, and the Gold Rush. Loved it.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Eh this book was not my favorite. I thought the cover was beautiful but not my cup of tea.

DNF @ 61%
Elizabeth and Nate annoyed me to no end. I mean, ugh. I get that Nate was interested in men and tried to still be a somewhat good husband for Elizabeth. But honestly? he seemed so uinterested all the time and just generally meh. Elizabeth wasn`t much better, she made fun of Nate when he could not make love to her, whined and complained wishing for other men..i just truly hated the characters, they got on my nerves.

Right from the git-go we realize that Elizabeth has lived a hardscrabble life in Lowell, MA, New England and takes a bite at the Apple of marriage vows & the promises of CA Gold Rush. One is more disappointing than another. This is a young woman that reads Emerson’s Self-Reliance like it’s scripture. Corresponds with Louisa May Alcott. Can we have the makings of an amazing strong woman to admire? We should, but we don’t. Resentment and bitterness seems to built into every facet of her character. She’s had 3 betrayals-Father, husband & lover. Lived through the hard toil of being a prospector & ONE bad winter—meanwhile she has Liberty unknown to women of her time period, she makes her own money, finds friendships and is still never satisfied. So despite the MAGNIFICENT quality of research done for this historical fiction having main character so thoroughly unlikeable really ruined the book for me. Even her letters home to Louisa May so filled blatant lies and back handed swipes at her spinsterhood didn’t have the effect of engendering any sympathy. Come on, who lies to Louisa May in a Woman’s Historical Fiction book? I honestly only continued reading looking for the hope of redemption or single moment of self awareness (hint:Emerson!) and it didn’t come.
There was a LIST of unanswered questions at the end. This is well written, well researched book that had so many more prospects for a woman. If you read it read it knowing Elizabeth is never satisfied I’d recommend reading it for the history, and the other characters who exhibit much more humanity in their stories—they suffer then prevail, they commit offenses and travail. Stars added for the impeccable historical research, the rights granted to women in CA, the treatment and culture of Californios, Mexicans, Spaniards, and Black people. The cost of living both monetarily and toll on ones strength of character. The lives of Gay men and Lesbians in hostile times.
I received a free copy of this book in lieu of an honest review. #NetGalley

The book provides a look at the difficulties of life in the California Gold Rush from a woman's perspective. The strength of the women as well as the importance of female friendships in addition to women holding up other women. It's 1850 and Elizabeth and her new husband Nate have travelled from Massachusetts to California to find her father who struck gold on the American River. What she finds is that her father has totally changed and has no desire to see her. He leaves his claim to Elizabeth and Nate and disappears into the wilderness. What she finds is a river with little to no gold and soon she and Nate are working long hours to find gold but starving due to lack of money. Nate starts disappearing into the nearest town and when she goes to find him she realizes that she can make her own money by sewing and mending for the prospectors. She also finds out that women in California have rights to be independent, to divorce and to own property unlike women in the rest of the country. As she begins to feel like Nate doesn't want to spend time with her and realizes that he is struggling with his sexuality, she realizes that it's time to move into town and leave her husband and marriage behind. It's a struggle for her as she realizes that there are sacrifices to make on the road to independence but she's a strong woman and able to survive the pitfalls This is a great book highlighting a woman finding a way to thrive in a man’s world, and a great testament to how far we’ve come. If you love historical fiction, I think you’ll enjoy this one. I enjoyed the development of Elisabeth's friendships and her own character. She learns what she likes, doesn't like and wants out of life. She has gumption and moxie, two qualities I admire. She pined for a lost love and then got busy moving on with life.

Elisabeth marries Nate, a man she barely knows to escape a life of poverty and despair in Massachusetts. Arriving in California, she discovers that life isn't any easier there. Her marriage isn't a happy one, because her husband, Nate, is a closeted gay man and she turns to another for affection. Working the claim they inherited from her father, the two struggle to make a living as well as a life.

What I enjoyed most about Prospects of a Woman was California's progressive views about the roles of women and Elisabeth's understanding of the options she had there. She could own her own business. She could divorce her husband. She could make her own decisions.

I really wanted to love this book, but it just wasn't for me. The descriptions of the wildlife were very well written, but I like faster paced books. It was interesting to read about the Gold Rush and the author clearly did a lot of research. I just felt like the characters didn't draw me in and the writing was too slow paced for me. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of Elizabeth Parker, coming to the California gold rush with her new husband Nate in search of her errant father in hopes of supporting her family back home in Massachusetts. As ever, events do not go as planned. Not only is her father not who she thought he was, neither is her husband Nate, and Elizabeth strives to find a different kind of future as an independent woman within the more modern laws of California.
The set-up should make for a fine historical story, unfortunately Elizabeth is unlikable and surprisingly shallow for so well-read an individual, and just about every other character is more interesting and would have made for a fine book. I assume the historical research was accurate, but problems with natural history kept pulling me out of the story with a mighty wump, and these were just items I knew because of living in southern Oregon foothills. She talks of madrone bushes, but there no such thing as madrone bushes, only madrone trees, and the bushes described are manzanitas. Yet later when discussing the origin of the name of Manzanita City, a fictitious bush with "a little apple" is described. Uh, no, they are berries, see madrone bush described in earlier chapter. Minor silly quibble, right? But suddenly a few pages later a black panther appears. Come again? A jaguar wandered up from Mexico perhaps? There are no melanistic cougars, they do not exist. A bit later she picks a ripe pear off a tree and bites in, yummy. Ick ick ick. Ripe on the outside means rotten on the inside. Pears don't ripen like other fruit. Little things, but they yank you out of the story. And, unfortunately, they render the rest of the "facts" suspect.
And while I am whining, when she was setting up her bookstore, she "read all the books" so she could tell the men what they were about. Read all the books?!?! What a life of leisure they had there in the gold fields. Who on earth had time to read all the books? Did they have speed reading courses by candlelight?
Sorry. I had high hopes for this one. I only finished it because of NetGalley.

I was so curious by the premise of this work of historical fiction. A woman who is a good friend of Louise May Alcott of Little Women fame, accompanies her husband to California during the mid- nineteenth century goldrush. The conjuring of Alcott's name made me believe this story would be more wholesome, but Elizabeth has a rough story of hunger, hardship, and sexual frustration. She endures pain from the men her in her lie, and finds some help and support in the women around her, especially female business women such as herself, but there are few in this wild landscape. Ironically, California is one of the few states with rights for their women, and Elizabeth wastes no time using them to her advantage. Her story, though difficult, does have times of inspiration, and eventually the rose-colored stories she weaves in her letters to Alcott don't seem as far fetched.

The title has a double meaning: 1) The possibilities of a woman and 2) gold prospecting. It covers what it is about.

A young, poor, recently married woman arrives with her husband at her father's gold claim in California. People can get rich during the Gold Rush or remain dead poor. But California is special as legally women have a lot more rights than in the rest of the USA. They can own their own property and can divorce.

Elisabeth is desperate to make something of her life as her father had abandoned her family and farm. To get security and independence.. At first the situation is quite dire as they are so poor. In her letters to her friend however she describes her fantasies as reality. When the time passes the letters get more and more a true account.

Elisabeth comes over as quite a hard woman but when you look at her history that is understandable although I wished at several occasions she had chosen differently.

For me as a non- American the historic setting was interesting. The story is well written..

1849 the California Gold Rush and a woman in a man's world. That alone would give you a hint as to how this story unfolds!. I liked the book but didn't care for the protagonist. It was the history of California in the 1800's that drew me in. It seems that California was always different from the other states (especially at that point in time) and has, indeed, remained so. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With this book, the author can be likened to Gwen Bristow and Calico Palace.
“do not seek for things outside yourself”
The main character Elizabeth is a strong, determined and ambitious woman who takes full advantage of the more liberal laws in California, affording women the same rights as men. She is inspired by Emerson’s work: Self Reliance.They could earn money for themselves and it did not pass to the husband. They could divorce and keep their children. They could run their own business without needing a husband or father’s permission. Elizabeth finds clever ways to make money, from repairing miners’ clothes to printing and engraving, selling books, wise purchasing of shares in mining to journalism eventually. She meets many strong women along the way. A great story. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Prospects of a Woman by Wendy Voorsanger is a well researched historical novel set in California in the Gold Rush era which started in 1850.

Elizabeth, the main character, along with her new husband Nate, comes to California in search of her father who came West to prospect, but he wants nothing to do with his old life and leaves Elizabeth his claim.

Along the way Elizabeth finds her strength and resourcefulness, doing things outside her character in order to survive.

It was an interesting idea to look and learn about the Gold Rush era thru the eyes of a woman.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to read and learn about this time period and to anyone who likes to read about strong willed women.

I received a ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My friends at PR by the Book invited me to join in the blog tour for this new historical fiction novel: Prospects of a Woman by Wendy Voorsanger, and I couldn’t say no. This story takes place during the Gold Rush in California, and you all know I love a story with strong women, historical context, and that takes place in my home state! And somehow I had missed (until I started reading) that her best friend is Louisa May Alcott! The protagonist is from Concord (my favorite place nearby) and writes letters to my favorite author (LMA). This book was made for me!

Here’s the overview:

The story of one woman’s passionate quest to carve out a place for herself in the liberal and bewildering society that emerged during the California gold rush frenzy

Prospects of a Woman

By Wendy Voorsanger

Elisabeth Parker comes to California from Massachusetts in 1849 with her new husband, Nate, to reunite with her father, who’s struck gold on the American River. She soon realizes her husband is not the man she thought—and neither is her father, who abandons them shortly after they arrive. As Nate struggles with his sexuality, Elisabeth is forced to confront her preconceived notions of family, love, and opportunity.

She finds comfort in corresponding with her childhood friend back home, writer Louisa May Alcott, and spending time in the company of a mysterious Californio Don. Armed with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, she sets out to determine her role in building the West, even as she comes to terms with the sacrifices she must make to achieve independence and happiness.

Prospects of a Woman is a fresh, authentic retelling of the West that explores women’s contributions in California and shatters the stereotypes of the typical hard-boiled novel of the West that has captured the American imagination for over a century.

About the Author:


Born and raised on the American River in Sacramento, Wendy Voorsanger has long held an intense interest in the historical women of California. She started her career in the Silicon Valley, writing about technology trends and innovations for newspapers, magazines, and Fortune 100 companies.

She currently manages SheIsCalifornia.net, a blog dedicated to chronicling the accomplishments of California women through history. Her debut historical novel, Prospects of a Woman will be published in October 2020 (She Writes Press); an excerpt entitled “Shifting in California” won 1st place in the California Writers Club short story contest and is published in the Fault Zone: Shift: An Anthology of Stories.

She earned a B.A. in Journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Castro Writers’ Cooperative, the Lit Camp Advisory Board, and the San Mateo Public Library Literary Society.

In addition to being an author, Wendy has worked as a lifeguard, ski instructor, and radio disc jockey. Wendy lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons.

I truly loved this book! I loved the history. I loved the intrepidness of the main character, Elisabeth. I loved how it tied Concord, MA in to the storyline with my beloved Alcotts. It was so well-written and truly interesting with all the information on women’s roles and women’s rights back when California was a new state.

Highly recommended and destined to be one of my favorite reads of the year!

Thank you so much for making me part of the tour!

1849 America - Elisabeth is a very new bride but she does sense that something is not quite right in her marriage though she cannot put her finger on what is wrong. Coming to the land of gold mining she seeks her father who has a claim on a piece of land which has prospects.

Discovering that her father has no intention of a reconciliation but just absconds from them, Nate and she try very hard to scrape out a life from the land. Prospecting as well as any man, if not better Elisabeth faces every adversity life throws at her till she strikes it rich. Finding out her husband was a homosexual was a blow, but it did not make her run away from her home which she had made. Scraping herself out of the pits, she made progress one step at a time in an era where women were totally dependent on men for every little thing.

She used Californian laws to her advantage, independently signed up on claims and loans and perplexed men who were not used to independent women of her ilk. She also urged other women in the area to do likewise and not fall under the control of men who only wanted their money.

This was a stirring story of courage, endurance and survival. Very very good reading.

This is one of those stories that really makes you realize just how far we've come...and yet, just how far we still need to go. Elisabeth was thoroughly unprepared for what life on the new frontier would bring, and the abandonment (yet again) by her "father" was that last straw on the proverbial camel's back. Add to that the hardships she'll face on a personal front, the harsh, unfamiliar landscape she now finds herself in, and the uncertainty of a future she believed somewhat set...and you've got enough to bring your average girl down. Good thing she's more than average...and she's about to find out just how above the bar she really is as she navigates her way through a time that wasn't meant for women to forge their own destinies, and yet that's just what she's about to do.

Step into the past and see just what triumphs can be achieved when a woman's mettle is tested and giving up just isn't an option.

A wonderful story set during the gold rush in California. Elizabeth comes out west with her husband to fine gold but instead finds freedom and purpose among other ambitious California women.

Prospects of a Woman tells the story of Elisabeth and Nate Parker, two newlyweds relocating from Massachusetts to Gold Rush era California in search of her father and a new, hopefully prosperous, life. Once in California, the Parkers realize that life and marriage are going to be harder than they had anticipated.

This book was among one of the hardest for me to get into and to try to enjoy—and in the end, neither really happened for me. The main characters, Elisabeth, Nate, and her father, are horribly unlikeable and at no point did I think they would recover.

Initially, I had thought this was going to be a sweeping love story, but it wasn’t. Ultimately, the plot lacked direction and I never quite figured out why the author was writing this book. Prospects of a Woman just felt really aimless. If this book is meant to be the first in a series, then the author did a horrible job setting it up.

I read this so that you don’t have to.

*Advance Reader Copy provided courtesy of @NetGalley and She Wish Press in return for an honest review

Prospects of a Woman by Wendy Voorsanger is an intriguing story of Elisabeth's first three years in the wilds of California circa 1850. She has arrived there with her new husband, Nate to find her father, who has run away from his family somewhat earlier. What she expects to find, she has no idea, but locating him begins her disillusion with life. Through thick and thin she persists, wearing the one dress she own, mining gold next to her husband until things start happening in her life. She never looks back, except at the family she has left behind. She continues her correspondence with her friend, Louisa May Alcott, with nothing more than grand fiction, unwilling to share the downward turn her life had taken. It is a harrowing picture of a time in history when anything was possible.

Elisabeth is a stalwart character who allows nothing to keep her down. Through her travels she meets other women who support her and love her. She does some things that are outside her character, but she has to survive, and survive she does. She goes through multiple careers in the short time we know her, always learning, always striving. There is not really a plot; it is more of a slice of live novel with many mini-plots and subplots along the way. There are men, all with flaws of their own. Some she loves, most she does not, but they help her along her way. This is an astounding time in California history, unfair to early Californios but supremely fair to women, if they are smart enough to take advantage. It was an exciting story. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free ARC of Prospects of a Woman by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #prospectsofawoman