Frank Norris 
Blix (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This short 1899 romance was based on Norris’s courtship of his wife.  It features a San Francisco journalist, Condy Rivers, who falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy family that believes him to be very much beneath her.  Willa Cather praised the novel as ‘all wheat and no chaff.’

Circa l’autore

Frank Norris (1870–1902) was born in Chicago, but lived most his life in San Francisco. Inspired by the work of Emile Zola and Gustave Flaubert, Norris adapted their methods to American settings, adding a naturalist flair. He is best known for his novels Mc Teague, and The Octopus, set in California during an era of railroad expansion.