Bret Harte
4) Maruja
In the mid-1800s, California was as much Spanish as it was American, and competing claims over the land grants that had been issued by the Spanish government created a major controversy in the territory. That's the backdrop of this short novel from Bret Harte, which centers on the enchanting Maruja Saltonstall, who is torn between multiple suitors.
What starts out as a tale of peaceful domesticity takes a sudden turn when the protagonists are lured from Connecticut to California by the promise of striking it rich. This novella from American author Bret Harte is an engaging, easy read that will please fans of historical fiction or tales of the Old West.
7) Devil's Ford
Cultures collide in the novella Devil's Ford from Bret Harte. City-bred and professionally trained engineer Philip Carr decides to seek his fortune in the mountains and moves himself and his grown daughters to the Devil's Ford mining camp, where he pits his advanced techniques against local practices—and where his daughters cause a commotion among the camp's denizens, including beloved recurring character Whiskey Dick.
8) Clarence
One of Bret Harte's chief strengths as an author was his ability to focus on the outcasts of society and find a way to make them sympathetic. In this short story, the despised Elijah Martin escapes from a brush with death only to find his whole life transformed.
A motley cast of characters comes together in the unspoiled forestland of the Carquinez Woods, including a female murderer on the lam, a sensitive, hermit-like Native American, a hard-drinking minister and his pious and beautiful teenage daughter, and Yuba Bill, a stage driver with a heart of gold who appears in many of Harte's stories.
Everyone's favorite bloviating attorney makes a triumphant return to the law profession in the title story of this charming collection from Bret Harte. Colonel Starbottle takes on a client named Jo Corbin, who has committed a grievous crime and works out a convoluted plan of repentance.
This novel from American author Bret Harte is a family epic that details the rise of the Harcourt clan in a quaint northern California community. Blending elements of romance, action and a pervasive atmosphere of the Old West, it's an engaging and worthwhile read.
15) Gabriel Conroy
Capitalizing on Bret Harte's skyrocketing literary fame, this novel of 1850s California received the largest payment ever made for a single work of fiction up to that time. A dramatic story of a party of pioneers trapped in inclement weather in the California Sierras, Gabriel Conroy will leave you on the edge of your seat.
Fans of high-quality Western tales will cherish this collection from the renowned chronicler of California's misfits, outcasts, and rebels. Several of the stories collected resurrect some of Harte's most popular characters; widely reviled blowhard Colonel Starbottle is featured in "What Happened at the Fonda," and grizzled stage driver Yuba Bill shows up in "A Niece of Snapshot Harry's."
This diverse collection brings together a number of the stories of American author Bret Harte, one of the foremost chroniclers of life in territorial California. The novella "The Bell-Ringer of Angel's" focuses on a doomed marriage and features a number of Harte's beloved recurring characters, while the short story "Chu Chu" recounts a standoff between a man and a hard-to-tame horse.
In the words of The New York Times, author Bret Harte was "the creator of a new literature that was purely American." The unforgettable characters in these four tales are outcasts and misfits who have made their way west to seek their fortunes and get a fresh start.
In the title story in this collection of three tales, author Bret Harte brings to vivid life the character of Abner McNott, an enterprising entrepreneur with a vision. Against overwhelming odds, McNott sets out to transform the carcass of a wrecked ship into a welcoming inn.
The metaphor of cultures clashing is a prominent theme in many of Bret Harte's stories, but it takes on a literal dimension in the novel The Crusade of the Excelsior when the well-to-do passengers traveling aboard the Excelsior descend on the small coastal town of Todos Santos.
