Chapter One Summary

It's 1850 in California, and eighteen-year-old Angel hates her life. She is in a town called Pair-a-Dice, and the gold miners passing through look at her with the same lust and greed with which they look at the gold they work for. Angel hasn't been in California long, however, having traveled by ship from New England. She had been planning to leave her life of prostitution behind, but discovered on the ship that she either could return to prostitution, like the other two women on the ship, or be raped. Hoping to keep the money for a new life in California, Angel had decided to sell herself just until she got to shore. However, she was robbed and beaten by the other two women on the boat, so she was left with nothing to live on in her new city. It is...