ABOUT
THE BOOK

Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaiso, Chile, by a well-intentioned Victorian spinster, Miss Rose, and her brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the highly unsuitable Joaquin Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of Northern California. By 1849, Chileans everywhere have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth.

Joaquin takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him. With the help of her good friend and saviour, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi’en, Eliza manages to survive in a society full of single men and prostitutes, and slowly but surely, California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquin gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms over time, and what begins as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.