Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange (Women of the West) [Paperback]

Sybil Downing (Author)

Book Description

Series: Women of the West | Publication Date: October 1998

Three women set up their own stock exchange, choosing to fly in the face of tradition in order to assert their claim to wealth and independence.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Downing based this novel, third in Forge's Women of the West series, on an actual women's stock exchange that opened in the booming gold-mining town of Goldfield, Nevada, in 1906. Her fictionalized characters include Meg Kendall, only a few weeks from starting medical studies at Johns Hopkins, who got waylaid in Goldfield after her father died in a mine accident; Tess Wallace, a former prostitute and saloon keeper who has a daughter to raise; and Verna Bates, who moved to the sweltering mining camp to take over one of its newspapers. Aggravated by the fees imposed on small investors who are unable to afford 100-share lots of mining stocks, they and a few other women establish a separate exchange through which smaller lots can be bought and sold. At first rebuked by male traders, the Ladies' Goldfield Stock Exchange is flooded with orders once it lists mines not available elsewhere. Although only a short-lived venture, the exchange demonstrated what determined women could achieve during the early years of this century. Jennifer Henderson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge; Reprint edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812539273
• ISBN-13: 978-0812539271
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,151,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a lousy book!, February 5, 2003

By 

MAB (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange (Women of the West/Sybil Downing) (Hardcover)

"Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange" was horrible, and that's putting it lightly. The ladies stock exchange was overshadowed by the outbreak of pneumonia, the auto race, and the personal lives of the characters. The narrator switched too often, and the women had too many problems for the reader to focus on. Just when you became interested in one life, it abruptly switched to another, and the chapters were to short, which led to an overabundance of chapters. The ending was very sudden and too happy - don't get me wrong, I love happy endings; but, with the history of the women, it just didn't fit. The lack of an epilogue did not help, either. A waste of time and money. I do not recommend.

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent Read, But a Bit Bogged with Exchange Stuff, April 1, 2011

By 

Tara (Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange (Women of the West) (Paperback)

I liked this book for its strong, independent women characters. Meg travels from Boulder, CO all by her lonesome to go to Goldfield, Nevada to see what's going on with her father. The year is 1906 and just traveling alone was a no no for a lady back then.. but Meg is not deterred.

She arrives in NV to discover her father is dead and she is now the owner of a bunch of gold mine stock. She makes two friends, Verna and Tess. Verna is struggling to be the town's only woman reporter while she helps a poor family in need, struggles with her own health, and tries to break free of her brother's hold on her.

Tess is an ex whore struggling to be a respectable business woman and mother, but there is this one fellow that may prove to be her weakness.

Each woman is a business woman in a time when women didn't even drive automobiles unless they wished to be ostracized from polite society. The women team up to start their own stock exchange. This is where I started getting confused and bored. All the talk about stocks, prices, the exchange, bids... I don't understand any of that stuff. And doesn't someone have to go dig all of this gold out?? Miners? Where were they?

I like this author's style, however, and recommend this book for those who like strong heroines.