From the age of seven, Donna Baier Stein wanted to be a writer. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was at this same age that she first learned about the sensational and tragic life of Baby Doe Tabor, one of the most scandalous women in Colorado’s history, its 1880s “silver queen” and for a while the “best-dressed woman in the West.”

Donna wins Colorado Independent Publishers Award, 2nd Place Historical Fiction

Donna wins Will Rogers Medallion Award, 3rd Place, Western Romance, The Silver Baron’s Wife

Gargoyle Magazine published Donna Baier Stein’s short story, “Prodigal Son”

These two authors, Donna Baier Stein and Ronna Wineberg, met at a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Middlebury, Vermont. They became fast friends and interestingly, their writing careers have paralleled one another. Both have written novels and short story collections, have won prizes, and have an involvement with journals that publish the works of upcoming writers.

The Silver Baron's Wife traces the rags-to-riches-to-rags life of Colorado's Baby Doe Tabor (Lizzie). This fascinating heroine worked in the silver mines and had two scandalous marriages, one to a philandering opium addict and one to a Senator and silver baron worth $24 million in the late 19th century.

Award-winning literary novelist Donna Baier Stein has just published a moving and powerful portrait of a controversial and memorable character well-known here in Leadville, but little-known at lesser altitudes. “The Silver Baron’s Wife” is the fictional story of Baby Doe Tabor, the second wife of Horace Tabor, the 1880s Silver King who left his name on many local landmarks.

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.

I want to take the opportunity to welcome Donna Baier Stein, author of The Silver Baron’s Wife, to The Maiden’s Court today.