The Silver Baron’s Wife by Donna Baier-Stein – 219 pages

Book Blurb:

“The Silver Baron’s Wife traces the rags-to-riches-to-rags life of Colorado’s Baby Doe Tabor (Lizzie). This fascinating heroine worked in the silver mines and had two scandalous marriages, one to a philandering opium addict and one to a Senator and silver baron worth $24 million in the late 19th century. A divorcee shunned by Denver society, Lizzie raised two daughters in a villa where 100 peacocks roamed the lawns, entertained Sarah Bernhardt when the actress performed at Tabor’s Opera House, and after her second husband’s death, moved to a one-room shack at the Matchless Mine in Leadville. She lived the last 35 years of her life there, writing down thousands of her dreams and noting visitations of spirits on her calendar. Hers is the tale of a fiercely independent woman who bucked all social expectations by working where 19^th century women didn’t work, becoming the key figure in one of the West’s most scandalous love triangles, and, after a devastating stock market crash destroyed Tabor’s vast fortune, living in eccentric isolation at the Matchless Mine. An earlier version of this novel won the PEN/New England Discovery Award in Fiction.”

My Review: 4 stars – Guest Review

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The Silver Baron’s Wife is a beautifully written, moving, and historically rich, fictionalized account inspired by the true story of the life of Elizabeth Doe Tabor (widely known as Baby Doe Tabor). The author paints a vivid picture of this enigmatic, complex historical figure. This relatively short book is told from the perspective of Baby Doe.  Although the story is written as fiction, the author has clearly done in-depth research, and includes journals and letters from Baby Doe Tabor. The book spans Baby Doe’s life from the late 1800s to 1935. The novel features many colorful characters, including historical figures such as Sarah Bernhardt, Williams Jennings Bryan, and President Chester Arthur.

The realistic descriptions of the setting and time period, allowed the reader to clearly picture the Colorado mining towns, silver mines, and the Victorian society of Denver. The mines depicted by Baby Doe come to life as mysterious, vital, and magical.      

I had never heard of Baby Doe Tabor before reading this book, but I was immediately drawn into her story, and had empathy and admiration for her. Baier-Stein’s writing makes this complex, strong-willed, spiritual, and courageous character jump off the pages. Baby Doe was a feminist who was ahead of her time, as her actions conflict with the rigid social and gender expectations of the time period. I was totally invested in Baby Doe’s struggle and perseverance to find love, happiness, and fulfillment on her own terms, in a society where she was ostracized.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of this infamous woman, and would love to learn more about her; it would work well as a documentary or film. It’s an easy read, with short chapters. I wish the book had been longer, since it compressed the last thirty-five years of Baby Doe’s life in just a few chapters. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work. Fans of historical fiction or books about strong women will gobble up this book. Reviewed by Guest Fairy Ronna.

Quotes I liked:

The Past must not impress itself on the day.”

“Everything felt as though we were in a play, written for someone else, performed for strangers.”

“I breathe in deeply, exhale.  It is there, in that fraction of time between the breaths, that the illusions of time and loss disappear.  I would like to always rest inside that space.”

– “I breathe in all that I have lived:  all sights, sounds, touches, tastes.  I breathe out love for everyone I have ever known and even for those mysteries I longed to understand but could not.”

“Just like the miners did, I might have to dig through rubble to reclaim my faith and step forward in darkness.”

“I still felt a longing inside me.  It was the longing that had electrified me as I waited for communion as a child, the longing I had felt in the bowels of the Fourth of July and The Matchless.  A longing for an answer to a mystery.  And so far, neither a loving marriage, motherhood, nor money seemed to have satisfied it.”