The Whip: Inspired by the story of Charley Parkhurst (Unabridged‪)‬

Best Western, 2013 International Book Awards
2013 National Indie Excellence Awards winner, Western fiction category
Gold Prize in Historical Fiction & Best Western Fiction - 2013 Global Ebook Awards
Award-Winner in the 'Fiction: Historical' category of The 2012 USA Best Book Awards


The Whip is a multi-award winning novel inspired by the true story of Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man in the Old West. 

As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had his child. He was lynched, her baby killed. The destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track the killer. 

Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver for Wells Fargo. She killed a famous outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true sex, fell in love with her. 

Charley was the first known woman to vote in America in 1868 (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California. 

"I would have done that," Ms. Kondazian said in a telephone interview. "I would have probably put on men’s clothes, to be free like a man." (New York Times interview of Karen Kondazian - from “Overlooked No More: Charley Parkhurst, Gold Rush Legend With a Hidden Identity”, by Tim Arango, December 5, 2018)