Coming February 27, 2027
The women who built California rarely made the history books.
Bay Lands: A Novel
A sweeping historical saga of ambition, resilience, and the making of California
by Theresa Donovan Brown
Old California collides with the Industrial Age when twenty-year-old Mexican Irish mestiza Marisol Griffin inherits a failing rancho.
To save her land from San Francisco robber barons, Mari forms an unlikely alliance of women – from an elite socialite to an escaped Chinese slave. Their fight draws them into the dangerous underbelly of the city, where financial fraud, human trafficking, and unchecked ambition threaten everything they love.
Inspired by Juana Briones, Leland Stanford, William Ralston, Tien Fuh, and Ah Toy, among others, this literary page-turner thrusts readers into the maelstrom of immigration pressures, new technologies, and unbridled greed that changed lives and legacies forever. A sweeping story of women, land, and resistance at the birth of modern California.
“Brown delivers this novel at the exact right historical moment: Readers are likely eager to sink their teeth into a story that features industrious, ahead-of-their-time women who manage to stand up to patriarchal profit. A historical saga rich in setting and character with a knowing nod to the trials facing today’s readers.”—Kirkus Review
Available at your local indie bookstore or from: