Publisher's Synopsis
The year is 1862, and the Fraser River Gold Rush is at its height. Miners dominate the little town of New Derby, and they are eagerly awaiting the arrival of bride ships from England. Scared, but hoping for a new life, three very different young women step, rather unsteadily, from from a rickety bride ship onto the rough shores of British Columbia. Elinor, the pampered adopted child of an elderly aristocrat, wants to escape her strict aunt and the stifling prospect of marriage, but her elegant manners are no preparation for the realities of frontier living. Clever Rosie, a prostitute since childhood, has chosen an uncertain future over prison and the workhouse. Janet has left the poverty of London, longing for a home, a husband, and a better life. The three of them have formed an unlikely friendship during the hellish voyage. That friendship will be severely tested as they face discrimination, abuse, unlikely success, the possibility of love...and the threat of deportation. Will they be strong enough to survive in this rough new land, a land of gold miners, riverboats-and men unused to dealing with women who stand alone and face them as equals? Together these three women take on struggles and difficulties they could never have dreamed of. Like other unsung heroines of gold rush times they must invent solutions to problems unique to a new society in a new country. Some of the solutions they create work well. Others leave them in a worse mess than before. Elinor is force to work for a living - and not as a governess as she had hoped. Rosie opens a brothel which is an immediate success in a town that is more than 90% male - until the police chief works out a plan to deport her. Janet - well Janet careens from one disaster to the next until she discovers a unique talent. Read 'Bride Ship Three' to get a taste of real pioneer life during a gold rush, to share the emotions of three very different but very determined young women and to enjoy a good rad.
