Bret Harte 
Tales of Trail and Town 

In this varied collection of short stories, Bret Harte’s unparalleled talent for crafting indelible characters shines through. In "The Judgment of Bolinas Plain, " an unhappy wife escapes from her dull life by absconding with a circus acrobat, setting off a tragic chain of events. In a tale evoking the naturalism of French writer Emile Zola, "The Ancestors of Peter Atherly, " the Atherly family’s influence on the mining town it founded is explored.