A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

Tags

Hearst Castle, Julia Morgan, San Francisco

San Francisco, 1906. Amelia Bradshaw returns home from her architectural studies in Paris only to find her beloved grandfather dead and the family’s grand hotel on Nob Hill lost by her drunken fool of a father during a game of cards. Amelia loses her legal battle with the winner of the card game, J.D. Thayer, and takes employment with her mentor, architect Julia Morgan. And just who is Julia Morgan do you ask? You can read about her here, but her most famous project is the little house that Julia built for William Randolph Hearst.

The big earthquake hits and events take a bit of a turn for Amelia. What wasn’t destroyed in the earthquake burned during the subsequent fires and that includes her beloved Bay View Hotel. Julia’s firm is hired to restore the Fairmont Hotel, as well as the Bay View and the race is on to restore both hotels to their full splendor so that they can reopen on the first anniversary of the disaster. Despite their past differences, Amelia and J.D. work together towards the common goal of restoring the Bay View, but they are beset from all sides by corrupt government, graft, shady labor organizations and other evil baddies who want the hotel for their own. And what about her father? Is it possible he had the poker hand of a lifetime and won it all back the moment the earth shook? If so, can she find the missing cards and wrest ownership of the Bay View away from J.D. Thayer? Will Amelia and J.D. ever stop dancing around each other and realize there’s some serious chemistry there?I’m not telling. Despite a few quibbles towards the end, I really did enjoy this a lot and blew through it quite quickly. The architectural details and building challenges might bore some readers, but I found them fascinating. I really liked the character of Amelia, she was strong, intelligent and assertive without that annoying I Am Woman Hear Me Roar attitude you can get from some heroines. How nice that she could intelligently assert her independence and make wise choices in the face of danger instead of stupidly rushing out in the middle of night, thus requiring constant rescue by the hero 🙂

I found it very refreshing to learn that men found Amelia attractive without heaving bosoms or ripped bodices, as well as seeing the conflicts between the pair without the done to death trope of instant passion and loathing anytime a pair is in a room together. Another big thumbs up to Ms. Ware for writing well-rounded baddies and showing us why they’re bad instead of telling us with snarling lips, stinking breath and feral smiles. As for the quibbles? IMHO things fell apart just a tad at the end, when all of a sudden it’s time for the book to end and several pages of exposition are needed to wrap up the loose ends. Still, I enjoyed this overall and one I would heartily recommend to others, especially those interested in San Francisco history.

FTC, thanks to Sourcebooks for an advance copy of this book.

Lily Cigar by Tom Murphy

Tags

San Francisco

Orphaned at ten, Lily Malone and her older brother Fergus are shuffled off to St. Patrick’s Orphanage. Being the good Irish Catholic that she is, Lily dutifully obeys the nuns and learns the skills they teach her, but brother Fergus runs off to seek his fortune in California and is presumed dead at sea. At fifteen, Lily takes a position as between-stairs maid to the very rich Wallingford family, who being both newly rich and Catholic are not yet invited into the best homes – but they’ll do anything to get in, including selling their daughter off to a perverted English lord.

Lily works hard and resists all temptations to evil thrown in her path, that is until she’s seduced by the Wallingford’s younger son Jack, although it’s his best friend Brooks Chaffee who sets her heart afire. No surprise, but Lily eventually turns up pregnant and the Wallingfords give her a big check and passage to San Francisco with the promise of employment in their emporium there. Not everything is smooth sailing, and let’s just say a few unexpected things happen upon arrival,

“The streets of San Francisco were paved with mud and broken dreams, and the gutters were just waiting, hungrily, yawning and gaping for the likes of Lily Malone!”

With a baby to feed and the cheap Chinese labor taking up all the menial jobs, Lily has little choice but to join the world’s oldest profession – although her friend Sophie Delage has the smarts to turn Lily into the most sought after, highest priced whore in the city – Lily Cigar. Successful she may be, but Lily is not one to accept her lot in life, and she dreams of making enough money to start a better life in the country where she can live quietly with her daughter. Now you know there’s a whole lot more to it than that, but I’m not going to spill the beans – read it for yourself. Lily faces a lot of ups and downs and challenges in her long life, and the greatest of all during the 1906 earthquake (sniff). Through it all she keeps true to her pure and honest nature, and always the good Irish Catholic girl at heart.

“She had knowingly sinned and been paid for it. God hadn’t struck her dead, and if the angels were weeping for her, Lily could not hear them.”

Don’t let that scare you off though, Lily is not the irritating Pollyanna that you might think. The author’s writing is excellent and very lyrical at times, somewhat surprising for a male author,

“…the fires that burned in him were bright pure fires that did not burn but only made a new alchemy of love in whose dear crucible dark dreams and secrets were magically transformed into a new and golden thing, a strong and happy cage of love that promised to hold them both, together, always.”

Sigh. And don’t you just want to know who the man is who finally captures Lily’s heart? Or rather, she captures his wounded heart. I loved loved loved this book, and it’s an absolute must read for fans of big fat sagas. Lily’s story hooked me from the get-go and I couldn’t stop turning the pages until it was over. Don’t let the lurid cover or the prostitute angle scare you off either, any sex in this book is very very tame, especially by today’s standards. Out of print, but well worth hunting down and don’t forget to check your library – mine had a copy.

Napa by Kate Damon

Tags

Napa County California, Robert Louis Stevenson, San Francisco

 Napa Valley, 1863. Elizabeth Asheford chafes at the simple life of a vintner’s daughter in boring Napa Valley and sets her cap for Harvard bound Jake Duncan, thinking he’s her ticket out of town. Enter the older, but oh so charming Jean DeMille who sweeps her off her feet, but she still wants the high life and thinks she can convince her new husband to return to France. Fool her, Jean loves Napa and wants to create wines as great as those of his forebears and he works long hours, leaving a disgruntled and somewhat neglected Elizabeth pining for more. Jean is successful and builds Elizabeth a grand house in San Francisco at the top of Nob Hill and years later she meets up with spurned Jake Duncan and he’s hot to get his revenge – a revenge that has unforeseen consequences on the next generation.

The DeMilles’ sons, Peter and Marcus, are two very different men. Peter is self-centered and only concerned for money to drink and gamble, while Marcus is as devoted to the family winery as his father – although he fears he’ll never earn papa’s respect. When the great earthquake strikes in 1906, everyone’s lives are forever changed and set the two brothers on a path to destiny that only one can finish and treacherous Peter makes sure that destiny is in his favor. Or is it?

I love all things California and most especially love visiting Napa Valley (wish I could afford to go more often), so I snapped this up when I spotted it on my feeds at Goodreads. I did enjoy it, but Elizabeth was a bit too full of herself and it took too long before she saw the forest through the trees and appreciated her husband and family (although she did pay a big price for that selfishness). There was a bit too much telling instead of showing, but overall a fairly good read. I especially liked the name dropping of some of Napa Valley’s players and legends, from Robert Louis Stevenson at his *hideout* at the old Silverado mine to Charles Krug to Far Niente and the Schramsbergs themselves – that was a really cool bonus. All in all a fairly good solid read for a rainy afternoon, but I’d probably only recommend it for those who must read all things California and those interested in the early days of Napa Valley. A big boo-hiss to the editor for so many numerous typos left in the final edition. Isn’t that your job?FTC? A genuine Amazon Verified Purchase.