The Silver Baron’s Wife, Baier Stein’s first novel, was published last month. It’s based on the true story of Lizzie “Baby Doe” Tabor, a woman whose eight-decade life took her from middle-class respectability in Wisconsin to the hardscrabble silver mines of Colorado.

A unique portrait of a time and place populated by fearless people, this reimagination of an uncommon woman is powerful.

Donna Baier Stein artfully intertwines her story with some of the real-life Lizzie’s own journal writings, and the author pays tribute to her protagonist by emulating and maintaining the tone of these entries.