The fabulous Forty-Niner Gold Rush brought gold-fevered men from all over the world to San Francisco and then on to the raging Sierra Nevada rivers. They rode fast horses, drove wagons and even walked across the Great Plains, but many died or were scalped. Other argonauts boarded majestic sailing ships . . . some of which vanished in the wild storms of Cape Horn. Heather McKenna was left behind with her father in a squalid neighborhood of New York by her brother, Dennis, a dreamer ill-suited to the rigors of the Sierras. And so it is up to Heather to escape New York and a bleak future. Heather dreams of someday becoming an independent and wealthy California woman. She will use her brains and beauty to gain ship's passage then fall in love with a handsome seaman even while being courted by a rich and irresponsible rogue. In this full-blooded epic tale of hardship, adventure and triumph, Heather McKenna will overcome the malaria infested jungles of Panama, raging oceans and the lustful, scheming men of San Francisco in order to achieve her dreams of Gold & Lace.
About the Author: Gary McCarthy is the author of fourteen published American historical and thirty-four western novels in addition to his very enjoyable, informative four-volume "Our American West." In 1993, his "The Gila River" won the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award as the best historical paperback novel of that year. His 1991 "Russian River" California historical novel, and 2003 Arizona Western novel "Restitution" were Spur Award Finalists. He received widespread recognition for a series of novels relating to our national parks. All of his novels have been adapted to audio format. The author is well suited to writing about the American West; he grew up riding horses and received a B.S. degree in Animal Science and an M.S. in Economics from the University of Nevada. Before becoming a full time novelist, McCarthy was employed as an economist. He has a keen interest in Native American cultures, especially the Navajo, Hopi, and Hualapai who live in his beloved Arizona. His "River Thunder" is set against the harsh background of Arizona's rugged northern mountains and the magnificent Grand Canyon and is the winner of the Western Writers of America's 2009 Spur Award for Best Historical Audio Book. "Maddie O'Brien's Christmas Donkeys" is the heartwarming story for all ages of a how a small band of donkeys arrive one snowy winter night and transform the lives of the O'Brien family in ways that Maddie could never have dared to dream. "Gold & Lace" was one of Gary McCarthy's favorite novels to research and write. It required him to learn about early sailing, navigation and about the ordeals that the gold fevered Argonauts underwent just to reach California. It is easy to imagine the terror they must have felt while trying to survive the raging storms rounding Cape Horn or fighting through the steamy, pestilent jungles of Panama. Much in this novel is based on fact including the fires that burned San Francisco, the Sydney Ducks and hangings ordered by the Committee of Vigilance. The author visited towns and historic sites in the Sierra foothills where the scars of hydraulic mining still remain, testimony to the unbridled greed unleashed by mining companies willing to destroy wilderness beauty for gold. Gary McCarthy has over three million books in print and lives in Williams, Arizona. He enjoys hiking and horseback riding in the Grand Canyon Rim Country when he is not traveling the Southwest in search of new stories upon which to base his next novel.