Karen Kondazian’s novel THE WHIP Receives Great Advance Reviews

Karen Kondazian’s THE WHIP, a novel about the legendary stagecoach driver Charley “Charlotte” Parkhurst (1812–1879), has already received great advance reviews prior to its mid-November release. Here are a few snippets:

Keddy Ann Outlaw from the Library Journal:

This quick-paced, wily tale is a fascinating blend of both fact and fiction that is sure to engage Western and historical fiction fans…

Art Kusnetz from the forthcoming San Francisco Books and Travel:

The Whip, a thrilling and soul-searching read, raises questions about revenge and forgiveness as she [Kondazian] takes the reader along dusty trails. Above all this novel captures brilliantly the zeitgeist of the stagecoach era.

Tara from the Book Babe Blog:

Awesome read, excellent narrative, perfect blend of fact and fiction, and though Charley faces an  incredibly sad amount of misery and misfortune, the book managed to make me laugh at times as well as shake my head in sympathy.

Karen Kondazian’s novel THE WHIP has also garnered several blurbs from writers and celebrities praising the novel. Here’s a few that capture THE WHIP and Karen Kondazian’s appeal:

From Thomas Fleming, New York Times best-selling author of Conquerors of the Sky:

“You won’t know what The Whip means until you read this fascinating book. It’s a piece of the Old West, a part of America’s past, told with amazing authenticity.”

From Jim Beaver, star of HBO’s Deadwood and author of Life’s That Way:

Take it from someone who’s had firsthand experience with great art exploring the human spirit in a Western setting: Karen Kondazian’s The Whip is just that. This is a story that cries out through its adventurous surroundings—a call from deep in the human heart, a call for understanding, for love, for identity—and it does so through the skill of a magnificent writer. (It also cries out to be a movie. It’s that rich, visual, and dramatic.)

From Edward Achorn, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Fifty-nine in ’84:

Karen Kondazian’s The Whip is a cracking good story with more twists and turns than a wagon trail through the mountains. Kondazian takes what could be a hackneyed adventure tale of Charley Parkhurst’s gender-shifting revenge and imbues it with surprising tenderness and yearning.

From Elise Ballard, author of Epiphany:

The Whip is one of the best books I’ve read in long time…a real page turner. I didn’t want it to end and it stayed with me long after I put it down. I’ve noted quotations from the book that I continue to revisit because they struck such deep chords in me. I laughed and cried. The experience reminded me of reading Lonesome Dove—you go on a true journey with the characters, especially our hero/heroine, Charley Parkhurst, and you don’t have to be a fan of Westerns to love it. The novel is inspired by the extraordinary true story of one of the first stagecoach drivers of the Wild West, so you get a bit of a history lesson, and the writing is poetic and poignant, making you feel as if you are right there with the characters—feeling what they’re feeling, smelling the smells, seeing the sights, tasting the grit, and experiencing their love, joy, pain and the all the nuances in between. The story is unusual, complicated, fast-paced, and beautifully written. It’s quite simply, epic. I can’t wait for the movie version!

Karen Kondazian’s novel THE WHIP is being published by Hansen Publishing Group. THE WHIP releases in mid-November. The paperback can be pre-ordered online now from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The ebook version of THE WHIP will also be available on the Kindle, the Nook, the iPad and other platforms in mid-November.