Inspired by a true story.

Includes discussion questions.

Includes bibliographical references.

"Along the Missouri River, 1844...Eliza Haycraft flings herself into a canoe to escape a husband who beats her and a life that does the same. She is penniless and illiterate. Yet a decade later, sex and secrets will make her the wealthiest woman in St. Louis, a frontier boom town at the western edge of a restless nation. In exotic New Orleans and then in St. Louis, with only herself to rely on, Eliza becomes a prostitute and madam, then a property owner and puller of strings. She tangles with a vindictive rival and a governor who will become a Civil War turncoat...And when civil war looms, Eliza faces a devastating choice: whether to risk her own life for the survival of everything--and everyone--she holds dear"--P. [2] of jacket.