Leaving Eldorado by Joann Mazzie - OPTIONAL

Mazzie, Joann Leaving Eldorado, 170 pgs. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, (1993) 2014. $8.99. Language: PG (2 swears); Mature Content: PG (Prostitutes); Violence: PG.  

In a series of letters to her dead mother, fourteen-year-old Maude documents her days left alone in a spent mining town when her father and uncle try their luck at the Yukon gold fields.  Left with a large debt at the mercantile, an old cow and property that might not be hers,  Maude must find a job to support herself, but her dreams of becoming an artist and independant woman might come crashing down in the face of reality.  

Full of historical details about the time period and the role of women and minorities at the turn of the 20th century, this western is a good slice of life.  

MS - OPTIONAL  Lisa Librarian