“A Betting Woman: A Novel of Madame Moustache” by Jenni L. Walsh

Title: A Betting Woman: A Novel of Madame Moustache
Author: Jenni L. Walsh
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Year: 2021    
Genre(s): historical fiction
Part of a Series: No

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club pick

Summary: After suffering an unimaginable loss, Simone Jules flees New Orleans and heads to California along with others looking for gold. She finds her fortune at gambling tables, introducing the game Vingt-et-Un to the prospectors. Over the years, Simone reinvents herself as Eleanor Dumont and follows the gold with her games and her business sense, building a life for herself that she never could’ve imagined in New Orleans.

Rating: 

Review: Overall, I enjoyed this book. I had hoped there would be a little more romance in it but that was my personal hope, not a broken promise.

It is clear that Walsh did her homework on not only the time period but on Simone Jules AKA Madame Moustache, who was a real person who built and lost gambling enterprises in the Wild West. All this research helped her craft a great story and allowed her to take some plausible liberties with the story, which she admits in the back of the book.

(Namely, one of the few romances in the book. It doesn’t seem like it was based in any facts from Jules/Dumont’s life but it still felt plausible).

Walsh also did a great job making Simone feel real and not just some name in a history book. She had her dreams, her challenges, her strengths, her weaknesses. And it was easy to follow her as she fell down constantly but picked herself up again.

I also liked many of the supporting characters though due to the circumstances of Simone’s life, many did not stay for long in the book. So they were more plot devices to help further Simone’s character than their own characters but there were a few exceptions where I felt they had their own arcs.

I wish we had gotten a little more setting description, especially toward the end. My mind just filled in stereotypical Western movie settings as the book went on versus the pictures Walsh was able to paint in the beginning but that might have been purposeful. That all the towns started to blur together to Simone so she stopped paying attention. But consistent setting development still would’ve been nice, in my opinion.

However, just a small complaint for an otherwise good book.

Bottom line: A good historical fiction with a strong female protagonist.

Sex: Some mentions but nothing graphic.

Moonlight Musing

Is there an obscure historical person you feel have their story told?