Girls of the Golden West is set in the hardscrabble world of the miners who went to dig for their fortunes in the 1850s California Gold Rush. Simmering racism and sexism come to a head one Independence Day to end with the death of a Mexican barmaid, Josefa. The shocking narrative, based on authentic sources including gold miners’ songs, eyewitness accounts by writers like Louise Clappe and Mark Twain, and newspaper articles, is told from the perspective of the doctor’s wife, Louise Clappe, aka Dame Shirley.