Prospects of a Woman looks at women’s rights and status during the Gold Rush. California was at the forefront of women’s rights, allowing women to own property, divorce, etc. unlike most of the United States. In 1850, Elizabeth and Nate travel from an apple orchard in Massachusetts to California’s American River to find her father. When found, his character has changed completely and he wants nothing to do with his daughter.
Marital problems with Nate and her new love for a Californiano lead Elizabeth to divorce her husband and find her own way.
The story is told in a somewhat distant third person point-of-view with occasional bits of close third person, especially when Elizabeth is working through her problems and her sexuality.
The book has some sexual scenes, but very discrete.
I enjoyed this look into a woman’s life during the Gold Rush. It was refreshing to learn that somewhere in America, women were moving beyond the tightly-laced Victorian lives women were forced into. Elizabeth is definitely her own woman, forgoing corsets and wearing pants under a shortened dress to man the sluices with her husband.
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