Book ID Request, Again
July 28, 2011 11:39 AM   Subscribe

Please help me ID a book about a dark-haired woman set during the westward expansion.

Somewhere between '95 and '00 a friend gave me a book to read. It wasn't anything special, not classic literature or anything, but it was an interesting read. It wasn't a romance novel nor a western. Probably the best description would be a chick-lit book. Were it a movie I would simply call it a drama.

There was absolutely no sex, nor reference to sex of any kind throughout the book, no explicit cursing that I can remember and there was more than ample opportunity to do both.

I want to say that the book's copyright date was originally in the 1950s, but I'm not sure about that. The fact that I don't read books written in the 1950s (I prefer English classic literature) is one reason to doubt it, but it does seem familiar that I was surprised it was such an older book.

It was set somewhere in the mid to late 1800s. It was about a dark haired, and beautiful, woman who travels west (it details the trip west, during the westward expansion) with her naively idealistic husband, who is soon gunned down by men who were angry with him for some reason. She expected this and didn't feel bad about it. In any case upon his death, she is left without any money.

She meets a beautiful blonde-headed showgirl who befriends the main character. After hearing the main character sing, the blonde says their contrasting looks would benefit them as a traveling show. They team up and travel, singing together. Somehow they eventually end up somewhere in California, I believe.

Their frequent food were beans and the writer mentions "ladling out cups of chocolate" a lot of times. I believe they were running a restaurant or saloon. There was nothing bawdy about it, they were straight and clean.

That's really all I can remember. It is just driving me nuts! It really was a good book and I'd love to find it again.
posted by magnoliasouth to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (2 answers total)
 
Best answer: Is it Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow?
posted by Saddy Dumpington at 12:24 PM on July 28, 2011


Response by poster: I do believe you have that right! I think I posted this question once before, I sure wish you had read it then! ;)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just ordered another hardback copy from Amazon. I have thought about that book so many times over the years and am delighted to not only have found it, but find that the author has written others just as good.

Many thanks again!
posted by magnoliasouth at 2:54 PM on July 28, 2011


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