Epic

Set in the late 1890s in the Klondike during the gold rush, this is epic story telling in the good old fashioned sense of the word, with the sweep of books like Gone with the Wind, Hawaii or Shogun. Author Lewis familiarizes the reader vividly with the hardships of simply surviving in the hostile climate of Klondike (then as now a part of Canada, not Alaska) while staking out a claim and mining in the hotly competitive hunt for gold.

The story is grounded in three female main characters, Kate, Ellen and Martha, who are loosely based on real women of the time, but come to vivid fictional life as the author applies her writerly magic. Kate is a reporter being paid a great deal of money to go on the trail and write about the men seeking claims, but who is also pursuing a search for her missing sister on her own time.  Ellen lives on her claim with her feckless husband, Charlie, who despite his best efforts is terrible at mining and only manages to steadily lose all their money.  Martha owns a hotel in the town of Dawson (where all the adventures begin), which also serves as a bar and a house of prostitution. read more