The Whip is a fictionalized biography of a famous Wells Fargo stagecoach driver in California. Charlotte Parkhurst (1812-1879) is dropped at an orphanage as an infant. She soon bonds with a boy named Lee Colton who assumes the role of her protector and best friend, and who tempts her into playing games with the other boys instead of stitching with the rest of the girls. When Charlotte proves too recalcitrant for the head mistress, the girl is sentenced to live in the barn with the animals. There she falls under the spell of horses and the old Black man who’s in charge of them. He teaches her to drive a carriage.
After Charlotte leaves the orphanage she lives a solitary, itinerant life until she falls in love with Byron, a Black blacksmith, with whom she has a child. The pre-Civil War racism catches up with her when her lover is hung by the KKK—led by Lee, who is hurt that Charley doesn’t love him, but loves a Black man instead. Lee takes off to California and Charley follows, set on revenge. To get there, she disguises herself as a man and takes a job with Wells Fargo as a stagecoach driver. From this point, with rare exceptions, she lives her life as a male.
I enjoyed reading this as it dealt with issues I consider particularly pertinent in the current times: the patriarchy, feminism, and racism. It’s also one of those women who beat the code of the American West stories. There is some gorgeous writing, such as this description of the sky: “It was as though all that heavy azure might wrench itself free from the Good Lord’s hand and plummet to the earth.” However, there were places I felt could have used more fleshing out, and chapters five and forty (Charley’s death scene) were essentially identical, the duplication doing nothing to enhance the story.
*******************
The Whip (Hansen Publishing Group, December 31, 2011) is available through:
*******************
You can read my reviews of similar books here:
Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison
Outlawed by Anna North
*******************
This post contains affiliate links to third party sites. These can help you visually identify books I recommend. If you make a purchase, I may receive a small compensation at no additional cost to you. This offsets some of the cost of maintaining this blog.
