This month’s guest in the Fresh Fiction Women’s Fiction column is Rebecca Rosenberg, an award-winning author of seven novels who uses her skills as a historian to bring the stories of fascinating but little-known women in history vividly to life.
In addition to her busy career as a writer and speaker for the National Women’s History Alliance, Rebecca is also co-owner of Sonoma Lavender, one country’s largest lavender farms. Her new book, SILVER ECHOES, is a work of historical fiction based on the real life of Silver Dollar Tabor.
Thanks for joining us today, Rebecca. Please give us a short synopsis of your wonderful new novel.
Silver Echoes is a dual-timeline novel from the 1920s dazzling heights of the Flapper era to the 1930s rugged legacy of silver mining based on a true story.
Chicago, 1920s: Movie starlet Silver Dollar Tabor's glittering life shatters after a brutal attack awakens a hidden self, called Echo. Plunging into the city's dangerous underworld of burlesque speakeasies, she blurs the lines between ambition and destruction, testing her love for screenwriter Carl. This Jazz Age, Prohibition-era tale explores the dark side of fame and the fragility of identity.
Colorado, 1932: Haunted by Silver's disappearance, her mother, Baby Doe, fights to save their family's silver mine. A desperate search for her daughter unearths a shocking truth, rewriting their history. Can Baby Doe find her daughter before it’s too late?
This dual timeline novel weaves a spellbinding Saga of ambition, Identity, and the enduring bond between mother and daughter.
Silver Echoes delivers a gripping historical fiction experience perfect for fans of strong women in historical novels and stories based on real events.
Where did you first hear about Silver Dollar Tabor? And what was it about her life that made you want to turn it into a novel?
Growing up in Colorado, my family was always piling into the station wagon and exploring the ghost towns in the mountains. I think I was in second grade when I discovered the passionate love story of Baby Doe and Horace Tabor, and their daughters, Lily and Silver Dollar Tabor.
When I wrote GOLD DIGGER, the Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor about their rags to riches to rags story, I spent several weeks in Leadville, Colorado where the Tabor’s famous Matchless Mine, Tabor Opera House and the National Mining Museum is located. I imagined what it was like for a young Silver Dollar to lose her father and sister, the family's wealth, and be forced to live in a one room mining cabin throughout the winter—isolated in the Rocky Mountains, two-miles high in altitude.
What baffling trauma to live like that while your mother was busy down in the mine trying to support them. Yet the Silver Dollar who I discovered was wildly talented, a poet, a playwright and songwriter, a novelist, performing all of her creativity to anyone who would watch…including President Roosevelt! I wondered why and how this talented girl had met such a tragic death so early in life—a brutal “accident” in Chicago. It haunted me and I was hooked.
What kind of research did you do for Silver Echoes? Did you discover anything during the process that really surprised you?
Since I stayed in Leadville, Colorado, I was lucky enough to hang out in the places Baby Doe and Silver Dollar did: their one room cabin at the Matchless Mine, the Annunciation church, the Silver Dollar Saloon, the horse stable, the newspaper office, and…drum roll… the hauntingly beautiful and eerie Tabor Opera House where so many famous performers appeared: Oscar Wilde, John Philip Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, and even the great Harry Houdini!
I also talked with Evelyn Furman, the former owner of the Tabor Opera House at length. She shared the letters between Silver Dollar and Baby Doe while Silver was performing in movies and vaudeville in Chicago. These letters were instrumental in coming to the unique conclusion that Silver Dollar had DID (dissociative identity disorder) a disorder that was only just being discovered by Freud and Jung in the 1920s.
Another main source was the research of David Karsner in 1932, journalist for the New York Post, New York Tribune and New York Call. Karsner turned to writing non-fiction about President Andrew Jackson, radical abolitionist John Brown, and Colorado businessman and politician Horace Tabor, including research about his daughter, Silver Dollars life in motion pictures, vaudeville and burlesque.
If you met Silver Dollar, what's one question you'd ask? And if you met her at the start of your book, what advice would you give her?
“Oh, Silver, my amazing, daring, talented friend. Knowing what you'll face, my strongest plea is: please, be wary of dangerous men. Your spirit is too bright to be dimmed by that darkness. And please, give serious consideration to marrying that screenwriter, Carl and pursuing Hollywood. Imagine the heights you could reach with his support and your talent in that world!”
As a writer, what are the greatest challenges you encounter when trying to craft a novel about a real historical figure? What are the greatest joys in the process?
Navigating the space between factual evidence and narrative interpretation is always a delicate process. With Silver, the moment of realization – the epiphany – came through her letters to her mother. The sheer volume of requests to return mail to more than a dozen different names and addresses, each tied to a distinct personal history, made it impossible to ignore the signs of DID.
These weren't just quirks; they were profound indicators that Silver wasn't living a conventional life. Each letter, in its own way, illuminated her internal struggles, the self-constructed realities she inhabited, and the palpable emotional and physical toll she was experiencing.
Silver Echoes was just released this week! Where can readers get a copy? Are you doing any in person or virtual events to celebrate the release of Silver Echoes? If so, where can readers find out more about them?
Silver Echoes is available at any bookstore through Bookshop.org and Amazon. And you can find out more about the book at my website. I’m doing a number of fun events surrounding the release and have links with more information listed below.
Register for my virtual Adventures by the Book Launch Event, 6/11/25! https://adventuresbythebook.com/calendar-event/rebecca-rosenberg-6-11-25/
Readers Books Sonoma 6/11/25
https://www.readersbooks.com/event/rebecca-rosenberg-presents-silver-echoes
Copperfields Books Santa Rosa 7/11/25
https://www.copperfieldsbooks.com/event/rebecca-rosenberg-2
Colorado Book Tour 8/31-9/7
Email for schedule in Denver, Boulder, Estes Park, Leadville
[email protected]
A Spellbinding Saga of Ambition, Identity, and Redemption. Based on a true story.
Chicago, 1920s: Movie starlet Silver Dollar Tabor's glittering life shatters after a brutal attack awakens a hidden self. Plunging into the city's dangerous underworld of burlesque speakeasies, she blurs the lines between ambition and destruction, testing her love for screenwriter Carl. This Jazz Age, Prohibition-era tale explores the dark side of fame and the fragility of identity.
Colorado, 1932: Haunted by Silver's disappearance, her mother, Baby Doe, fights to save their family's silver mine. A desperate search for her daughter unearths a shocking truth, rewriting their history. This dual timeline novel weaves a tale of resilience and the enduring bond between mother and daughter.
From the dazzling heights of the Flapper era to the rugged legacy of silver mining, Rebecca Rosenberg's Silver Echoes delivers a gripping historical fiction experience. Baby Doe Tabor's relentless quest for truth unearths the secrets of Silver Dollar Tabor. Perfect for fans of strong women in historical novels and stories based on real events.
What really happened to Silver Dollar Tabor? And can her mother uncover the truth before it’s too late?
Women's Fiction Historical [Lion Heart Publishing, On Sale: May 20, 2025, e-Book , / ]
California native Rebecca Rosenberg lives on a lavender farm with her family in Sonoma, the Valley of the Moon, where she and her husband founded the largest lavender product company in America. A long-time student of Jack London’s work and an avid fan of his daring wife, Charmian, Rosenberg is a graduate of the Stanford Writing Certificate Program. The Secret Life of Mrs. London is her first novel, following her non-fiction, LAVENDER FIELDS OF AMERICA.
Rebecca Rosenberg's next historical novel is CHAMPAGNE WIDOWS, the story behind Vueve Clicquot, and MATCHLESS, the story of Baby Doe, silver queen of the West.
When not curled up with a good book, Marie Bostwick can usually be found in her office, trying to write one.
A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty uplifting works of historical and contemporary fiction, Marie’s books are beloved by readers across the globe.
Drawing on her lifelong love of quilting and her unshakable belief in the power of sisterhood, Marie’s popular Cobbled Court Quilt series has been embraced by quilters and non-sewers alike. Her standalone books have also found a passionate following among lovers of women’s fiction. Marie’s novel, The Second Sister” was adapted into the 2018 Hallmark Hall of Fame feature film “Christmas Everlasting”, starring Patti LaBelle. Marie’s most recent novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019 and was chosen as a Reader’s Digest “Select Editions” book.
Marie’s novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019 and was chosen as a Reader’s Digest “Select Editions” book. Marie’s books have been published in fourteen different languages.
Her latest novel, “The Book Club for Troublesome Women”, was published on April 22nd, 2025 by Harper Muse, a fiction imprint of Harper Collins Focus.
Marie lives in Washington state with her husband and a beautiful but moderately spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
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