The tougher and rougher life got, the stronger Augusta Pierce Tabor got. Starting out life as a rather fragile petite girl who more often than not found herself faced with one health issue or another no one would have ever guessed how Gusta would wind up. Usually you think that a person who lacks physical confidence and strength uses intelligence to equal the playing field. But ironically, although Gusta's natural practicality and organizing skills were important skills in her life, her strength and being is what helped her survive. And she did better than just survive -- she managed her family, her family's holdings and businesses and for at least a part of the time she was able to help her husband Horace Tabor, or Haw as he was known, stay solvent.

Haw was a dreamer of sorts -- his big dream was to be rich. Wealth would certainly make him an important man and that was his goal. The route he took was that of a wheeler dealer and risk taking gambler. What he gambled with was Gusta's sometimes meager earnings. Oh there were fortunes to be made gold mining but avoiding the pitfalls was difficult. Times were lean and fortunes were evasive but Gusta was learning how to find happiness with what she and Haw were able to make. She loved her husband and defended him with all her being. But she always had doubts about what he felt for her and as their life started taking on new dimensions she had to rely on whatever inner strengths she had developed to keep her family safe. Haw wasn't a bad man just not good husband material. He preferred to be out on his own foraging for his next prospect rather than defending and supporting his family.

Throughout their story it is quite evident that without Gusta's business skills and determination and work ethic this man who would like to be the gold king would have never had the opportunity to seek his fortune. Too late Gusta realizes that the more fortune Haw found the less he needed of his wife and family.

Coleman writes truly historical novels. Not until the very end of the book did I realize that the characters were real people who had lived during a time when people made extraordinary life altering decisions moving away from family and homes to truly undeveloped and beyond rustic places looking for a chance to make something of themselves. THE SILVER QUEEN covers the life of Augusta Tabor and features her extended family and the family she made with Horace Tabor. The book truthfully captures both the good and not so wonderful qualities of these adventurous people. These were certainly not perfect people and their human frailties are what made them so interesting to read about. Coleman did a good job in describing life during those turbulent years.