title: Gold Diggers and Deadbeat Dads: True Stories of Friends, Family, and Financial Ruin
author:  Valerie Rind 
description: During a hiatus from a career as a corporate attorney, Valerie Rind worked for a housing authority, where she created its pilot personal finance program for 300 low-income individuals. Under a pseudonym, she was a founding volunteer moderator for the FICO community forum. She writes about personal finance at ValerieRind [dot] com and contributes to other media outlets.
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  ![](images/00005.jpg)
  
  ![](images/00002.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For Mr. Wright
  
  Thank you for making middle school survivable
  
  and for making the study of history such an important part of my life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  St. Ives, England, February, 1811
  
  Miss Eleanor Lockhart stared at her father in open shock. “You have nothing
  left?”
  
  Davis Lockhart pulled at his sleeve, a familiar gesture that practically
  screamed his discomfort with this interview. “Not nothing, but not enough to
  support this household.” He turned apologetic, murky brown eyes on her. “And
  not enough to support you.”
  
  Nora stared at him from the recesses of the ancient settee, whose broken leg
  was propped up with a stack of books. He’d lost all his money—or almost all,
  apparently—to a bad investment scheme. “What was it again?” she asked, shaking
  her head.
  
  Father had always been a bit of a scatterbrain, but she hadn’t realized the
  depth of his ineptitude when it came to financial matter