The review from True West magazine (May 2008 issue) is in:
Jay O'Connell looks at the romance of outlawry from an unlikely perspective: that of the daughter of a bandit. Eva Evans's father was Chris Evans, who partnered with John Sontag to commit several train robberies in California during the 1890s. As her father's oldest child, Eva was privy to a shadowy world, which, out of loyalty to her father, she occasionally joined. Her father's notoriety made her a star in the Hearst press and on the stage, but she never admitted her father's guilt until the end of her life. Using sources such as his heroine's rediscovered memoir and personal papers, O'Connell concludes that the story of Eva Evans is about her love for her father. With that frame, Train Robber's Daughter tells not only the story of a famed outlaw but also the intriguing tale of how his daughter's devotion to him shaped her own tangled life.
Meg Frisbee, True West
Avance praise for
Train Robber's Daughter
by
“Evans and Sontag were among the most notorious outlaws of the American West. Now Train Robber’s Daughter presents for the first time the true story of Eva Evans, the teenage daughter of Chris Evans, whose life was just as dramatic as that of her train robbing father. From her first-hand accounts of the manhunt for her father; her romance with his bandit partner, John Sontag; her career on the stage, portraying herself in a popular blood and thunder melodrama; her later social activism and friendship with Emma Goldman; and her surprising admission, at the end of her life, of her father’s guilt, O’Connell tells a gripping story that not only entertains, but is a valuable contribution to California history.”
John Boessenecker, author of Badge and Buckshot: Lawlessness in Old California
“A tale of train robberies, ambushes and shoot-outs with posses, it is also a little-known saga of loyalty and betrayal surrounding Eva Evans, a young girl whose devotion to her outlaw father knew no bounds. O’Connell adds much fresh research to flesh-out the story of Eva’s life in a biography that is truly a unique and fascinating read.”
William B. Secrest, author of California Desperadoes
and Perilous Trails, Dangerous Men
“Evans and Sontag are the Frank and Jesse James of California history, and Jay O’Connell’s biography of Eva Evans, the train robber’s daughter, explores their exploits and fascinating legacy in compelling, exciting ways.”
William Deverell, author of Railroad Crossing:
Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910
Eva Evans, herself a photographer, sits for a portrait circa 1900.
Newspapers call Train Robber’s Daughter a “compelling tale of nonfiction” and “the most well-researched book” on Evans and Sontag
Train Robber’s Daughter is a compelling tale of nonfiction that takes readers through nearly a century of Eva Evans’s life. It’s a scholarly work with an in-depth index, references, bibliography, and 16 pages of photos, but it reads like a novel.
—Sarah Elliott, The
O’Connell has cut through the layers of hypebole propagated by the sensationalist media of the 1890s to write the most well-researched book on the story of Chris Evans and John Sontag,
However, this book is not just another story on the
—Reggie Ellis,
Crime Historian Laura James praises it in her historic true crime blog, CLEWS
A new book written by a
I thoroughly enjoyed this new twist on the train robber tale. It is a fascinating biography of a life defined by public opinion.
Train Robber’s Daughter is a wild saga that says as much of the times that produced Eva Evans as it does of her, and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in train robbers, the yellow press, or simply interesting patterns of human lives.
—Laura James, CLEWS: The Historic True Crime Blog
