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The Californians

Gertrude Atherton

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .It took her a week to make up her mind to speak to him and to decide what to say; but when her decision was finally reached, she walked through the connecting gardens one evening with firm tread and set lips.

She entered the house by a side door and went to the library, where she knew Colonel Belmont smoked his after-dinner cigar when at home. A cordial voice answered her knock. When she entered he rose and came forward with the graceful hospitality which never failed him in the moments of his liveliest possession, and with the acute interest which anything feminine and young never failed to inspire.

"Well, honey!" he exclaimed, kissing her warmly and handing her to a chair; "you might have done this before. I'm such a lonely childless old widower."

"Oh!" said Magdaléna, with contrition; "I never thought you'd care to see me." She could not know that he seldom permitted himself to be alone.

"Well, now you know it, you'll come o. . . Read More

Community Reviews

Interesting example of local color and naturalism. It's basically a love story with a big unhappy middle. It concerns the children of the Americans who took California from the Spanish/Mexican land holders. The main character is the daughter of a Spanish grandee who befriended an American from New E

Not what I expected at all. An attempt at historical fiction around some of the big names of early California history, such as Yerba, Polk, Belmont, and others, it is actually the story of two girls that grow up in San Francisco & Menlo Park (in the summers), and how they mature. It takes place in t

We have an old DVD called, “Civil War stories“ that features a conversation between Gertrude Atherton and Ambrose Bierce. I became curious about her writing. That is why I decided to read this book. It’s an interesting portrayal of the 1880s in San Francisco. Easy to predict what will happen, but ho

I'm always anxious to read books about historical San Francisco and the Bay Area and of course, Atherton was one of the prominent authors of that area in the late 19th/early 20th century. I found this book overall very enjoyable and had some great historical information on the aristocracy of San Fra