Beneath a Golden Veil

By: Melanie Dobson

Narrated by: Carly Robins

As elegant as the Sacramento residence she operates, Isabelle Labrie keeps her past concealed, like the treasure she hides under the Golden Hotel. It's 1853, the heyday of the California Gold Rush. Isabelle is full of hope, staking her claim on the city's refined clientele and her future on a sweetheart's promise to marry her when he returns from the gold fields. Then, unexpected guests - fugitive slaves seeking safe passage to the North - force her to confront her past and reconsider her path.

While Isabelle learns to trust God's provisions, a law student in Virginia must confront his father's cruelty and rescue a young slave from his family's tobacco plantation. As the two escape to freedom, and Isabelle risks everything to harbor runaway slaves, the past and present are set on an inevitable collision course - one that reveals hidden treasures of the heart.

©2016 Melanie Dobson. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Great story!!

Wow! I enjoy audio books of this genre, i.e., 1850's. I zipped through this audio book; sometimes it was a little difficult to keep up with the characters, i.e., who was who but overall, it was a very interesting story which was hard to put down. If you like stories about the evils of slavery and the people working to abolish it, you will like this audiobook.

Gold, Secrets, Slaves, California 1853

This story of the Gold Rush in Sacramento prior to the Civil War (which began in 1861) is an interesting tale of lawlessness, greed and unrest. California had been admitted to the United States Union in 1850, about the same time that the Gold Rush started. But its laws regarding slave ownership was all over the place, and often misinterpreted by the officials. Freed slaves were allowed to live and work there, but slave owners could bring their slaves into California and were able to cross back and forth over state borders with their slaves without issue. And the courts often sided with the slave owners. Women also had few rights. So, knowing all of this, the story of Isabelle Labrie and the Golden Hotel which she ran becomes one of intrigue and danger. When a young law student from Virginia had a confrontation with his father over the ownership and treatment of slaves on the family plantation, and eventually showed up in Sacramento, deep secrets begin to emerge. This is a wonderful story of the battle between good and evil; how greed enters the hearts of men and women; and the hope that faith, determination and dependence upon the Lord can see us through. You will be up late listening as the threads of the story are revealed and untangled . . . and rejoice with the victory of love over hate and injustice.

Great historical info

The narrator was pretty good but I think she got too emphatic at times and put emphasis on the wrong word in a sentence. Changes the meaning sometimes. However, overall she did well. I would have given her a 4.5 if one could.
As to the story, I liked the author’s intermingling of the characters’ stories and then how she brought them all together in the end. The villain could have been fleshed out a bit more in the beginning. We don’t learn about his deficiencies until the very end.

the emotion of this book was wonderful

I just finished this book and loved it.
i can't say enough about this book! the history and characters were so real. i couldn't get enough from this story. the history was so rich, so real! it was so great. one of the best books i have read this year. everyone should read this book!!! the author did such a great job!
the narrator did such a good job with so much emotion.

Great story, horrible narration

I’m trying so hard to get through a good story however the shred king voice of the narrator keeps my mind irritated to where I’m not sure I can finish the story, too bad. Great author!