Jane Smiley once again shows she is a natural born storyteller in this skillfully told story of a young women who finds herself a widow (something she is happy about), far from home and from her strait-laced Christian parents, working as a prostitute in the 1850’s gold rush era wild west town of Monterey. Smiley manages to describe Eliza’s job as a prostitute and the acts she performs and the way the men she services act in the primmest most old-fashioned way you can imagine. Reading it made me laugh. While there is a mystery (prostitutes are being murdered and no one cares) that was not the only theme of the book. The book was about Eliza, her friend Jean, her boss Mrs. Parks and how women learned to be strong and how to cope in a world where they were treated like slaves – often by their own husbands – and had no way to support themselves. This was a feel-good book about a time and a place from a perspective and viewpoint not often seen. It was a surprisingly beautiful story given the subject matter. I listened to the audio version and the narration was spot on and really helped bring the story to life.