The Whip: A Novel Inspired by the Story of Charley Parkhurst

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Across the board, politicians say Lady Butler-Sloss – whose appointment to head the child abuse inquiry has been widely criticised because of her own close links to the establishment – will have to look where no other inquiry has looked ever before – into the wonderful workings of the whip's offices. Otherwise Westminster will be accused of the ultimate hypocrisy: protecting itself from an inquiry it set up into goings on in our national institutions. There is much scepticism, however. Heathcoat-Amory says: "They have got to try, and they probably will write to ask if there were any written records, but I very much doubt if there is anything there. I think they could be going down a blind alley." Condition: Very Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. A very interesting story and one I, and most avid readers, probably have never heard or read about when thinking of the old west stories. Surprised a movie has not been made of this story. A woman stage coach drive reportedly one of the best, from a orphan raise in a New England orphanage. Lead me to read the true story of Charlotte/Charley on Wikipedia. Would encourage anyone to read the book – man and women – as I am sure it has a different meaning to each gender. Like a nugget of gold pulled from the riffles is Karen Kondazian’s debut novel The Whip. It may be a book for the times. We can all use a little cowboy wisdom about now and Charley Parkhurst may just be the gal to bring it. A thrilling and soul-searching read, raises questions about revenge and forgiveness; above all, this novel captures brilliantly the zeitgeist of the stagecoach era. The Whip” can be more than any usual book club meeting. Why not cook up some chili or bake a rum cake? Uncork some wine, sip some whiskey or sarsaparilla. Grab you r whip, put on your Cowboy hat and wear your favorite button down shirt and vest. Be creative and have fun!

It is this secret, its implications and its complications that Karen Kondazian speculates on in her fictional book “The Whip.” In doing so, she humanizes a larger-than-life woman, who concealed her gender, embraced one of the most dangerous professions of the west and became the first woman to vote in the United States. If you like stories about individuals who choose to chart their own destinies this is the book for you. But that dualism can also be extremely difficult, as when Anna, the woman who lives with Charley, wants to make their relationship sexual and Charley can neither satisfy Anna’s desires nor tell her the truth. First published in 1976 and enjoying a number of reprints over the years, Martin Caidin has delivered an entertaining book that will appeal to lovers of WW2 history, action and aviation. Caidin has written a number of other fiction titles as well as some non-fiction works on military history. Also, a few sci-fi thrillers have come from him as well. Sure, Whip is a bit pulpy and may not find huge acceptance by today's readers, but it's designed for entertainment purposes with a little factual account blended in there and I'd suggest that most people over that age of 40 would really enjoy reading this. As an author, Kondazian is a multi-award winning novelist. Her debut novel, “The Whip,” won the USA News Book Award (Best Historical Fiction), Readers Favorite Award (Best Western Fiction), among other awards. The book was also featured on the cover of Publishers Weekly and is a screenplay.This book was inspired by a true story of a woman who lived most of her life in the 1800's as a man. There were people she had worked with for years as a whip driving stagecoaches that were surprised upon her death to find out she was actually a woman. She had to be one tough woman to live in those times as a man!

Sandwiched between Emma's disastrous marriage to Barney (to be fair, it's not his fault) & Luke's continual menace to life & limb, we have cholera epidemics, unrequited love, daughters entering into prostitution, & near-terminal angst. I certainly wasn't expecting this much lustiness in my first Cookson If you find yourself reading this novel believing that you can easily predict what will happen next, watch out – you are in for a big surprise. What did you take away from the book to perhaps inspire you to go after a secret dream you’ve hidden away? THE WHIP is set in Tyneside, a region in northern England where the rugged country and rough weather once made life little more than a battle for survival.

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After some consideration, I've settled on a single word to summarize The Whip: SUFFERING. This isn't necessarily a negative. Suffering in The Whip is primarily meant to affirm the justice of deserved rewards -- karma, you might say. The ultimate triumph is love -- i.e., how Emma has suffered so much shit that it's a miracle she has the will to feel love toward another person. She is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Whip is a striking tale. Author Karen Kondazian created an epic. My heart soared and tore to pieces. Jayne: That’s a very good way to sum up one of the central problems with the book. And it’s a shame, too, because so much of Charley’s biography can be imagined, the possibilities were quite broad. Byrne had heard that old Charley Parkhurst was one of Wells Fargo’s most adept drivers…that he could get his coach along twisting roads in the dead of night as a dog can follow a trail by his nose.

Fictionalized biographies are interesting creations, because the choices the author makes for her “characters” are as significant as the real life history on which she draws. In Parkhurst’s case, there are so many gaps in the story that Kondazian invents the majority of the biographical details, incorporating those that are speculated or known alongside the fictional aspects. For example, it is known that Parkhurst was abandoned and raised at an orphanage, but the content of those years is not known. The invention of Lee Colton is interesting and provocative, because it is Lee’s idea to initially disguise Charlotte as a boy so she can stay with him once the orphanage is divided along gender lines once the new headmistress arrives. He is the one who dubs her Charley, and even though her real gender is discovered almost immediately, the ruse sets the stage for the second half of the book and problematizes the relationship with Lee in a way that creates a lot of dramatic attention throughout the novel. Lee is characterized as possessing “anger” that is often seen “showing off its sexual side.” He feels possessive and protective of Charlotte/Charley, but is also attracted to her, and it baffles and angers him that she does not easily submit to those desires. Kondazian’s well-written work, based on a true story, displays all the confidence of a seasoned novelist – I didn’t detect one false note. Lee’s dark ambivalence is later mirrored in Charley’s dualistic experience of herself as both male and female. She is most at home on the stagecoach driving her beloved horses, but experiences some of her happiest moments dressed as a woman and making love with a man who knows her secret: Whips are MPs and peers appointed by their political party to ensure other members ‘toe the party line’ – that is, to vote according to their party’s agenda. The Conservative government currently has 15 whips in the House of Commons and eight in the Lords. Labour has 10 in the Commons and 12 in the Lords. Our technical team have been informed of this error, and will be investigating but please do try again shortly.This is an authentic old west tale, complete with a lynching, stagecoach chases, gun fights, and more. It’s the story of a woman who is so successful at being a man, not only is she allowed to vote (oh, the horror – LOL!), but she successfully takes her secret to the grave – or so close that it doesn’t really matter. There are, admittedly, some liberties taken with her story, but more to flesh out the grey areas than to significantly alter or misrepresent anything about her. That’s an important distinction to make, because she is most definitely not your typical heroine. In fact, at times, she is downright nasty.

Information and details about the stagecoach era were great. My absolute, hands-down, favorite part was the list of rules issued by the stagecoach company. I had to read them aloud to everyone in the room. So funny. Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for "The Six Million Dollar Man" franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation. Martin Caidin was a prolific and controversial writer. Most of his work centered around the adventures of pilots and astronauts. A number of his books were notable for their reasonable, realistic predictions of then-futuristic technology.The Whip This was a mostly fictional story about a real person, Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst, a woman living out her adult life as a male stagecoach driver, then logger, in the late 1800s. Very little is known about her since she took her secrets to the grave. Karen Kondazian managed a well written and entertaining story woven around what few facts are known, imagining how this might have come to be, so it’s main value is entertainment, much like many of the Hollywood ‘based on’ movies. Still, what a fascinating story. It would make a great movie. For a first time author whose lifetime career has been as an actress, it was a satisfying read. A favorite passage: So when tragedy comes to the farm donning white sheets and masks, and fueled by racism and a personal anger that is definitely not brotherly, Charlotte heads out West to California, where she hopes she will find the master of her misery and exact well-deserved and long-overdue revenge. Instead what Charlotte finds is a new life as Charley Parkhurst, stagecoach driver and Sacramento resident. Although small and slim, Charley manages to pass as a man, although the parts of the narrative told from Charley’s point of view continue to use female pronouns, suggesting that Charley never thought of herself as male. Whether this was the case in real life is not clear, but for the purpose of the book, Charley’s dual identity is necessary because of the various relationships she has during the second half of her life, one of which is as a woman with a local gambler she periodically trysts with in San Francisco, and another as a man with an actress and her daughter who live with Charley as caretakers of a sort. I will not describe this section of the book in much more detail, because it is difficult not to venture into serious spoiler territory, but I will say that this was the most problematic part of the book for me. This is the riveting story of Charley Parkhurst (1812- 1879) – a woman posing as a man in a society where few women were more than a man’s possession, at best. The character’s historical life is somewhat sketchy. But, in her debut novel, acclaimed actress Karen Kondazian takes this bit of information and turns it into a full-fledged adventure that keeps the reader completely engaged from start to finish. (Personally, at one point in the reading of this tale, I actually had to put the book aside for a bit for fear of what may happen next in the unfolding story line.) Trust me when I tell you that you, too, will actually care about the folks in this story’s telling. You’ll see them (and all that surrounds them) and hear them and want to continue to learn more about each and every one, and discover their eventual fates. This mixture of fact and fiction is superb. My only remaining question is: When will this be turned into an award-winning film? Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth