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

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What a story of a courageous woman who survived a life of hardships. She was a woman, a mother, a wife, a man, a father, a lover, a whip, a drunk, an inspiration.

I must say, Charley’s transformation certainly doesn’t paint the men of the time in a very flattering light, but it’s honest and down-to-earth. It’s about more than just dressing the part – it’s about walking the walk, talking the talk, and acting the role 24X7. She learns to smoke, chew tobacco, cuss, and fight with the best of them, but to Kondazian’s credit, she never comes across as some ‘butch’ character – we know there’s a woman at the heart of Charley, but the necessities of life dictate a different path.

Riveting and action propelled. This researched work flows naturally, incorporating historical detail without detracting from the story. True-to-life description and a meticulous depiction of Parkhurst bring this gritty period to a degree of vividness rarely seen. The cinematic style utilizes all the senses; the world in which she survived unimaginable tragedy can be felt as well as seen in the mind’s eye. Witty dialogue, along with an intentional focus on reality, as opposed to excessive dramatization of the Wild West, make this book appropriate for an academic environment, not just mainstream entertainment. She is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 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! The orphanage: A cruel headmistress goes too far with her punishments. On one hand, she accidentally introduces Charley to her lifelong love: horses. On the other hand, she turns a kind and caring boy into the makings of a monster. This boy was Charley's protector and will soon become her enemy.

Stars… By far this is my favorite audio book… It’s not only true, but an exciting story. Narrator Robin Weigert is incredibly convincing in her performance of each character.. She’s brilliant. A must listen. Based on the life of stagecoach driver Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879), this historical novel starts out on the east coast and goes clear to the west coast, which took months by boat in those days. Labour MP Lisa Nandy was first to draw attention to the possible role of the whips in holding information relevant to the child abuse inquiries. In a Commons debate she referred to comments made by former Tory whip Tim Fortescue, who served in Edward Heath's government between 1970 and 1973. In a 1995 TV documentary, Fortescue, who died in 2008, said: "Anyone with any sense, who was in trouble, would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say, 'Now I'm in a jam. Can you help?' It might be debt, it might be … a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal in which … a member seemed likely to be mixed up. They'd come and ask if we could help, and if we could, we did." As mentioned earlier this is a convoluted plot, replete with spies, killers, more spies out to kill Rex, international plots, and an unexpected twist. The bodies pile up but Rex manages to make it and at the end and get the girl. I'm not telling you which one.Amazing read about a little known character in history, as well as interesting character studies of those who made up the old West. Kondazian does a fantastic job relating all the incidents in Charlie’s life, without excess words to wring emotions from the reader, quite frankly what happened to her in her life is enough to make the reader sympathetic without those. She is great at dialogue and her research was impeccable. Th book includes actual obituaries and newspaper articles from that time. Anyone who wants to read about the history of stagecoach drivers and a strong woman with great amounts of spirit and fortitude will love this book. Jacqui Smith, Labour chief whip from 2006 to 2007, emphasised how different being a whip is to being a departmental minister: “it was much more about interactions, meetings, individuals, calls with MPs and fellow ministers” and “much more political and organisational within government than the other jobs that I had been used to.” What is ‘the whip’? Update: September 2019. I have now fulfilled my ambition to travel to Mljet and explore the route followed by Rex. The National Park, the Veliko Jerezo and Malo Jerezo are indeed paradise and well worth the trip by boat to get there from Dubrovnik, or in our case via the island's only hotel's motor boat from Trstenik on the Croatian mainland, an hour away across the Adriatic (thank you Tui).

Kondazian treats Charley’s gender identity with care and complexity, demonstrating a character that defied the norms of any gender while occupying the role of both. Caidin's body of work was prolific and varied, ranging from additional speculative/SF novels such as Marooned, which was made into an acclaimed film and considered a harbinger of the Apollo 13 accident, to a novel based upon the character Indiana Jones. He also wrote many non-fiction books about science, aviation and warfare. Charlotte/Charley is a charismatic and complex person. I think the author has done a wonderful work with the main character. When Charlotte is living like Charley, she has a lot of turmoil with herself and she misses being a woman. Her identity problems also lead her to act like a man – she drinks, talks and walks like a man, so while reading you sometimes tend to forget that he is really a she. At the same time inwardly she is still a woman a desires to be a woman. It’s out of necessity that One of the reasons I was excited to read The Whip is that I lived for quite a while in Santa Cruz County, where some of the novel is set. I was also intrigued by the idea of a fact-based story about Charley Parkhurst, a woman who not only lived for most of her life as a man, but who was one of the most respected “whips,” aka stagecoach drivers, for Wells Fargo. While not a great deal is known about Parkhurst’s life, especially her early life, what is known provides a lot of rich material for any novelist, and certainly there is a great deal of drama in this fictionalized account of Parkhurst’s life. I found some of that drama moving, and there were significant stretches of the story I felt immersed in as a reader, but I ended up feeling ambivalent about both the kind of drama created around Parkhurst and the amount, which for me too often crossed the line into melodrama. And speaking of tragedy, there is a lot of it in this book. During the first half of the book, I felt that the darkness was effective at engaging my emotions and empathy. But the second half, where the tension between Charley’s tragic past and the almost ebullient indulgence of her masculine identity creates some over-the-top melodrama, I felt like The Whip was drawing on a number of stereotypes of life in 19 th C America more than constructing a believable tale about a complex and provocatively fascinating character. Consequently, my experience of the book was mixed and while I’m glad I read it, I cannot recommend it without reservations. C+Charley Parkhurst was a stagecoach driver for 30 years. Charley Parkhust was really Charlotte. She started out as an abandoned baby in on an orphanage step and became a drinking, shooting, tobacco spitting, revenge getting stagecoach driver. This is her story. The journey of Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst’s life is interesting reading but Karen Kondazian goes well beyond that. This is a book about values and about social issues. You will enjoy listening to (or reading) this well written and moving tale. THE WHIP is Miss Cookson's finest novel to date...a richly detailed, totally absorbing story that will surely add many new readers to the millions who are already devoted Catherine Cookson fans." (Publisher's Source)

Mercy and Horatia are the heroes, not the men who push the bill through parliament. We are better off united, says Mercy, and the two women stand, movingly, as one by the end. This story shows that love comes in many forms and that it is not bounded by convention or marriage. It shows that the spirit of a woman is whatever she makes it to be and that it is always her choice with whom she shares herself. It shows that a very private person can have friends who genuinely care. It shows that love and life will find you, now matter how far you roam and no matter who you present yourself to be. He added: "I have come into politics believing that MPs should vote according to their consciences, not as part of a nexus of inducements and threats." Whips also use more positive means of encouragement. They have the power to allocate offices in the parliamentary estate and are known to offer the possibility of government, or shadow government, positions to MPs in exchange for their loyalty (although it is the prime minister or leader of the opposition who ultimately decides on the allocation of these roles). [2] What is it like to be a whip?I bought the book because of the subject matter, thinking this would be a "historical fiction" with more of an emphasis on the "historical" then the "fiction." The author does make it clear she took liberties with the story (started out with the idea of the character, kept some important events from hir life, but made up a bunch of it), so I don't feel "deceived." This is an enjoyable read, a good story with interesting characters, but I don't know how much of it is true to Parkhurst's life. However, now that I know about Charley Parkhurst, I'm definitely going to be researching hir to find out what was true, what was artistic license -- mainly, whether Parkhurt was a cis woman living as a man because women in those times had so few options for survival, or whether Parkhurst was actually a trans man (which is what I originally thought when I read the description). Karen Kondazian brings forth a narrative flare to the story, making for a fun read that should prove all too difficult to put down, making “The Whip” a choice and much recommended read. THE WHIP, set in the uncompromising Old West is inspired by the true story of an extraordinary woman, Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst who lived most of her tumultuous life as a male stagecoach driver. Interesting fictional account of Charlotte “Charley” Parkhurst (1812-1879) who spent much of her adult life posing as a man in California driving for Wells Fargo. Wish there was more factual information on her life. Good, fast read.