Eliza Sommers

Eliza is a girl who was left in a soapbox on the doorstep of a merchant and his sister in Valparaiso, Chile. She is adopted and raised by them. As she reaches adulthood she follows her lover to California in the heat of the Gold Rush of 1849, aided by the cook from one of her uncle’s ships, Tao Chi’en. There she lives life as a boy, discovering the exhilaration of freedom and independence.

Rose Sommers

Rose is a émigré from England who settles in Chile after a scandal at home ruins her marriage prospects. She keeps house for one of her brothers, who is a merchant in Valparaiso. She takes Eliza in and raises her in the European style, hoping she can make a good match for her. Rose keeps many secrets, including her authorship of raunchy novels and the true identity of Eliza’s...