California Gold cover art

California Gold

A Novel

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

California Gold

By: John Jakes
Narrated by: Shawn Compton
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

A "riveting...sweeping epic" of one man driven by gold fever, by the number one New York Times best-selling author of North and South. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

At the height of California's Gold Rush, men left everything behind for the chance at striking it rich. Now, some 30 years after its peak, gold fever still entices adventurous Easterners like James Macklin Chance, a poor Pennsylvanian who is drawn to California by the dream of lasting wealth - a dream so powerful he'll stop at nothing to see it through.

Along the way he'll encounter grand passion, ruthless enemies, and larger-than-life titans like Leland Stanford, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Randolph Hearst, who helped shape a country's destiny.

©1989 John Jakes (P)2020 Tantor Action & Adventure Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Bastard cover art
North and South cover art
Forgiving cover art
Chenneville cover art
In 27 Days cover art
The Complete George Smiley Radio Dramas cover art
Enemy Women cover art
Though Waters Roar cover art
The Big Rock Candy Mountain cover art
The Octopus: A Story of California cover art
The November Girl cover art
War and Remembrance cover art
One of Ours cover art
A Transcontinental Affair cover art
The Hope cover art
Legend cover art
All stars
Most relevant
I came to this book after listening to North and South and the Kent Family Chronicles also by John Jakes. I loved all of those but for me this one topped them. I was sorry when I got to the end although I liked the ending. It was a great insight into emerging west coast Californian life following the gold rush years - history woven against against colourful characters and their struggles with the good and the bad. I shall keep it in my library and return to it to listen again.

Brilliant Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A mix of history and novel. Well written and well narrated. Could be worth a second listen.

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
epic story spanning the pioneering years the move west to california and the following building of the state. told in a flowing narative

epic story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.