Maid of Gold

In 1852, Jane Inglis loses her job as a maid in Quebec City. In desperation, she rashly follows a young man she barely knows on a five-month voyage to the other side of the world. She soon learns that the stories James Houghton has told her are not all true. In Australia, Jane decides to make her own fortune. But nothing turns out to be as easy as she hopes it will be: not panning for gold, nor cooking for god fossickers, not even marrying the man she loves. After many trials and adventures, she boards a ship for another five-month voyage home alone, completing a circumnavigation of the globe. Maid of Gold is a historical novel based on the lives of the author's great-great-grandparents, Jane Inglis and James Houghton.