I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, and was happy to discover Amazon Best-Selling Author Cynthia Woolf, and her Brides series. I asked Cynthia what drew her to San Francisco as a setting for five of her historical novels.
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| Cynthia Woolf |
Why I chose San
Francisco
I love San Francisco. The city is fascinating to me. The
people are hardy and determined. They rebuilt after the great fire and after
numerous earthquakes.
When I am looking for locations for my mail order brides, I
like places I can go to as well as research on the internet. San Francisco fit
the bill nicely. And there were many women who did come to San Francisco as
mail-order brides.
I like being able to read about my location. In this case
San Francisco has a rich history. It was a small sea port prior to the 1849
gold rush and then it grew phenomenally fast. Miners and supplies for them came
through San Francisco. There were sailors and rendering plants for whalers on
the wharf.
Until the advent of the transcontinental railroad, the only
way to the California goldfields from the east was by sailing ship around tip
of South America and up the western side of that continent to San Francisco. If
the weather was good it took around five months. Steamships that carried the
mail could do it in three because they didn’t have to depend on the wind to
carry them over the water.
The railroad which began regular service in late 1869, took
less than two weeks to make the same journey. The railroad literally settled
the west and allowed for the great expansion of this country.
Another reason to choose San Francisco is that I could read
actual accounts of brides that were brave enough to go there. In the beginning
not that many were willing to uproot themselves, to leave all they knew and
everyone they loved, for the adventure of becoming a mail-order bride.
There is a story of a man who vowed to bring back brides for
the miners, sailors and businessmen. He sailed to Boston and ran his ads for
women to marry these men. He only managed to get a few women to go back with
him and was mobbed when he got back with only ten or so women for the hundreds
of men waiting for wives.
Eventually, women did come. Churches sprang up and manners
were required. Children were born and schools built. San Francisco grew from a
boisterous coast town to the jewel of the West Coast that we know today.
BLURB:
Amelia James grew up performing on the stage. Her stunning
voice made her the darling of New York's theater district since she was fifteen.
She's never been more than an asset to her mother, never been just a woman to
the young up-and-coming men who want to use her to advance their own careers.
Amelia loves to sing, but is willing to give up fame, fortune and her future on
the stage for just one thing...love. Convinced she'll never find what she needs
in New York, she makes the daring decision to leave her life behind and travel
to the other side of the country as a mail order bride in San Francisco where
she won't be anything more than a wife, where her future husband will look into
her eyes and see her heart.
Wealthy prospector Phillip Dumont learned how to take care of
himself from a very young age. With his father’s death, his mother decided to
follow her dream and she abandoned her family when he was eighteen years old.
Phillip raised a house full of younger siblings on his own. Now, his youngest
sibling, his sister, is in need of a woman's touch. Phillip knows he'll never
trust a woman enough to give her his heart, and decides a mail order bride will
provide a soft touch for his sister and keep the gold-digging women at bay.
But Phillip is in for a shock. He is instantly attracted to his
new wife and tempted to trust her with more than his name. No matter how
vehemently Phillip demands obedience from his wife, his sister and his heart,
not one will listen. When an old partner seeking revenge comes for his bride,
will Phillip be able to see beyond the secrets of her past to save his family?
EXCERPT:
A knock sounded on her door.
Startled, she checked the clock on the
dresser. Ten o’clock. How had the hours passed so fast? She was late. She was
supposed to meet him in the lobby at nine-thirty. Shaking her head, she stood,
smoothed her hands down the skirt of her pale pink dress, and checked her
reflection in the mirror over the bureau before answering the door.
“Yes, may I help you?”
Her stomach fluttered. Standing on the
other side of the door was one of the most handsome men she’d seen in a long
time. That was saying a lot, since most of the actors she knew were quite
good-looking. Philip had dark, almost black hair with a slight wave, combed so
there was a small curl on his forehead. His jaw was square and strong and when
he smiled, like he did now, a small dimple appeared in his left cheek.
“Miss James?”
“Yes.”
He doffed his hat. “I’m Philip Dumont.”
“Hello, Mr. Dumont. I’m so sorry I didn’t
meet you downstairs as I said I would. What you must have thought.” She shook
her head. “If you’ll wait just a moment, I’ll get my wrap and then we can
leave.”
Amelia turned, let out a breath and
grabbed her paisley shawl. She stepped out into the hall, turned and locked her
door, putting the key in her reticule.
“Shall we go?”
Philip held out his elbow to escort her.
Amelia put her hand around the crook in
his arm and they proceeded down the hall.
“Yes. We shall. I have a request to
make.”
“Certainly. What is it?”
“My friend Sophia Hayes, who came here
with me as a mail-order bride, is getting married today. They are of one accord
and saw no point in waiting. She asked me to stand up with her, and I accepted.
We’ll need to be at their house at 1309 Grant Avenue by twelve-thirty.”
“That can be arranged. I thought I’d take
you for an early lunch at my home. You can meet my sister and we can get to
know each other a bit.”
Amelia beamed.
They stopped beside the carriage and he
helped her up into the vehicle before following her inside. As was proper, they
sat across from each other.
Glad he agreed, their acquaintance can
move forward. “Why don’t you tell me about your sister? How old is the child?”
“She’s seventeen.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. “Seventeen! That’s
not a child. She’s a woman.”
“She’s a girl. Still in the school room.”
Frowning he crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window.
Amelia understood now. “Mr. Dumont,
Philip, if I may and please call me Amelia.”
“Certainly, Philip is fine. We are after
all getting married soon.”
Cautiously she spoke. “Yes, Philip. Your
sister is a young woman. Is it possible you don’t want to see her as an adult,
not yet anyway, and she is rebelling against the constraints you put upon her.”
He leaned forward, anger in his eyes.
“You’ve never met her and barely met me, how can you make such an assumption?”
Oh dear, she probably should have kept
her mouth shut, but she’d never been one to hold back her opinions. “Perhaps
I’m wrong, but based on your letter I thought your sister was a child. She is
clearly not.”
“You’ll meet her and then you can tell me
if I’m wrong. Regardless of how I treat her, she needs a woman to guide her.”
Amelia bit her rogue tongue. “You’re
correct. I shouldn’t be saying anything without facts. I apologize.”
“Apology accepted,” he said grudgingly.
“Why did you send for a mail-order bride?
Surely with your wealth, you could have any woman you want.”
“Most of the women I know are not
suitable wife material and those that are didn’t want to take on the raising of
a child of any age.” He lowered his head and stared at her intently. “I want
children, Amelia. I won’t beat around the bush. But don’t expect me to fall in
love with you. I don’t believe that the emotion exists between adults.”
“Nor do I, Philip. That’s the reason I
became a mail-order bride. I couldn’t find a gentleman who suited, who also
wanted children.” No one who suited me. I
refused to be a mistress and the men I knew and those I met, didn’t want a
wife.
“Then it would appear that we shall get
on together. We both want the same thing.”
“Yes, we do. Children.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cynthia
Woolf is the award winning and best-selling author of twenty-two historical
western romance books and two short stories with more books on the way.
Cynthia
loves writing and reading romance. Her first western romance Tame A Wild Heart,
was inspired by the story her mother told her of meeting Cynthia’s father on a
ranch in Creede, Colorado. Although Tame A Wild Heart takes place in Creede
that is the only similarity between the stories. Her father was a cowboy not a
bounty hunter and her mother was a nursemaid (called a nanny now) not the ranch
owner. The ranch they met on is still there as part of the open space in
Mineral County in southwestern Colorado.
Writing
as CA Woolf she has six scifi, space opera romance titles. She calls them
westerns in space.
Cynthia
credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and her great critique partners
for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.
TITLES AVAILABLE
KISSED BY A STRANGER – A Montana Sky Series Novella– Kindle
Worlds
THE HUNTER BRIDE – Hope’s Crossing, Book 1
THE REPLACEMENT BRIDE – Hope’s Crossing, Book 2
THE STOLEN BRIDE – Hope’s Crossing, Book 3
THORPE’S MAIL-ORDER BRIDE – Montana Sky Series – Kindle Worlds
GENEVIEVE, Bride of Nevada, - American Mail-Order Brides Series
GIDEON – The Surprise Brides
MAIL ORDER OUTLAW – The Brides of Tombstone, Book 1
MAIL ORDER DOCTOR – The Brides of Tombstone, Book 2
MAIL ORDER BARON – The Brides of Tombstone, Book 3
NELLIE – The Brides of San Francisco 1
ANNIE – The Brides of San Francisco 2
CORA – The Brides of San Francisco 3
SOPHIA – The Brides of San Francisco 4
AMELIA – The Brides of San Francisco 5
JAKE
(Book 1, Destiny in Deadwood series)
LIAM
(Book 2, Destiny in Deadwood series)
ZACH (Book 3, Destiny in Deadwood series)
CAPITAL
BRIDE (Book 1, Matchmaker & Co. series)
HEIRESS
BRIDE (Book 2, Matchmaker & Co. series)
FIERY
BRIDE (Book 3, Matchmaker & Co. series)
TAME
A WILD HEART (Book 1, Tame series)
TAME
A WILD WIND (Book 2, Tame series)
TAME
A WILD BRIDE (Book 3, Tame series)
TAME
A HONEYMOON HEART (novella, Tame series)
NEWSLETTER - http://bit.ly/1qBWhFQ
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