Title: Lust for Gold
Author: Dale Chase
Publisher: JMS Books
Length: 62 Pages
Category: Historical
At a Glance: Even though this is a story short, the author still gives readers a good feel for Jesse and Abel’s characters, their relationship, their tragedies and the hopes for a better future.
Reviewed By: Maryann
Blurb: In 1849, the promise of gold brings many a man to California, but most find more hardship than riches.
Jesse Quinn, a golden-haired twenty-year-old is among them. He settles into the gold camp of Whiskey Slide to work with two other men in an effort that barely yields enough to keep them alive. With merchants charging exorbitant prices for provisions, it’s said men dig for food, not gold.
After hardship and disappointment, Jesse moves to another camp, Dutch Flat, where he takes up with the stern and silent Abel Munday. As the two work Abel’s claim with success, things take a positive turn for Jesse. Can Jesse bring some light into the darkness that’s plagued Abel much of his life? Together, they just might be able to fine something richer than gold.
Review: The year is 1849. Jesse Quinn, Dieter Hartung, and Chet Sloane, all in their twenties, have been mining for gold at Whiskey Slide in California. They face hardships from the weather, and they find little gold to bring in much money—just a pea-sized nugget would garner a one-hundred-dollar payout, but the cost of food consumes most of that. At least whiskey is cheap.
Jesse and Dieter start a relationship, of sorts, but drinking and gambling soon destroy what they have. Jesse can no longer bear to work the claim with Chet, and decides to move on. He takes up with a small group of men making their way to Yuba River, where rumor tells of big strikes. Not trusting rumors, though, Jesse decides to stay with Bear River, but as claims there don’t look very promising, he moves on and meets up with a freight wagon that takes him to Dutch Flats, where he gets another chance at mining. It’s here that he meets Abel Munday, who’s willing to take on a strong, hard-working man as a partner. And Jesse learns a new way of mining…and the secrets that Abel holds.
Lust for Gold is a short historical novella that takes readers to the late1800s, during the California gold rush. There’s a lot of information and descriptions of the tools and mining process, and Chase gives a look into a time where hardships, greed, and a lawless world either made you rich or broke you. Even though this is a story short, the author still gives readers a good feel for Jesse and Abel’s characters, their relationship, their tragedies and the hopes for a better future.
You can buy Lust for Gold here:
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