BOOK CLUB BEAT
with Sherry Hemingway
AUTHOR KAREN KONDAZIAN
meets with Morgan Hill book
clubs that included (l. to r.)
Linda Withrow, Laura Lundy,
Kondazian, Judy Profeta, Jennifer
Tate and Jan Hageman.
Members of the EAGLE RIDGE
BOOK CLUB #1 in Gilroy gave
The Whip a thumbs up. The Club
has been together for 10 years.
They are (l. to r.) Jan Peat, Carolyn
Hyde, Kathy Blaschke, Marvel
Liberati, Eva Hays, Donna Weigelt,
Linda Shimkus, Ruth Koteles and
Fran Jones.
The Whip by Karen Kondazian
Summary by Laura Lundy & Sherry Hemingway
Rating:
Women are seldom attracted to the Western genre of fiction. A
remarkable exception is “The Whip” by Karen Kondazian, a book
widely read and enthusiastically recommended by local book clubs.
Certainly a part of the fascination is that the lead character
is based upon a real-life son/daughter (the plot) in this region.
Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst (1812-1879), whose grave is in
Watsonville, was Wells Fargo’s most legendary “Whip” (stagecoach
driver) during the Gold Rush era.
It was Charley’s death that, with the subsequent discovery that
Charley was really a woman, altered his legend. His stagecoach
exploits had long been documented in the New York Times and
other press, but this new revelation rocked the nation’s press in
1880. Most of the back story never came out, and there was only
speculation around the autopsy that determined that Charley had
once given birth.
SHERRY HEMINGWAY spent her childhood
after lights out with a book and flashlight under
the covers. With degrees from Kent State
University and Harvard University, her lifelong
career was in journalism and public rela-
tions. Her hobbies are travel in (very) remote
countries, volunteering, and two book clubs.
70
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Kondazian wove her imagination around the facts of Charley’s
story to build an intricate, plausible work of historical fiction.
The story serves to explain why a number of women in the Old
West secretly gave up their gender identity for survival.
“Women had three options in that era: to be a wife, a teacher
or a prostitute,” Kondazian told two Morgan Hill book clubs
that recently met with her in Carmel. Anything else could mean
starvation for unmarried women.
Kondazian’s novel traces the life of little Charlotte Parkhust, who
was banished to live in the stable of her Rhode Island orphanage. A
kindly black caretaker became her surrogate father and taught the
girl her uncommon skill at handling teams of horses.
Charlotte’s adult life brings love, marriage, motherhood – and
unspeakable tragedy. She heads West in the uncomfortable disguise
of a man, to pursue revenge and work. In California, she finds ever
so much more, including a love affair that once inspired her to
shed her buckskins for a futile tussle
with a corset.
Through the twists and turns of
an absorbing plot line, the read-
er comes to comprehend the
complex, conflicted “Charley”
who in real life was known
for his cussing, spitting and
gambling. He was also courteous
to all women and an advocate for
racial equality.
Ironically, Charley was the
first woman to vote in America
(as a man).
JULY / AUGUST 2015
gmhtoday.com