Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948,) fully Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, was an American author. Many of her over 40 novels are set in her home state of California, primarily in San Francisco. Her works feature strong-willed, independent heroine themes related to the West, social ideas, and women.
Born in San Francisco, Atherton rapidly produced books set in old California and featured reminiscences from her travels to New York City, England, and continental Europe. Her well-researched, novelized account of the life of Alexander Hamilton, The Conqueror (1902,) won her critical acclaim and made the book a best-seller. Black Oxen (1923,) the tale of a woman rejuvenated by hormone treatments, was made into a silent movie.
Atherton wrote short stories, essays, and articles for magazines and newspapers on such issues as feminism, politics, and war. Her autobiographies, Adventures of a Novelist (1932) and My San Francisco: A Wayward Biography (1946,) comprise reminiscences of San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Gertrude Atherton
Women love the lie that saves their pride, but never an unflattering truth.
—Gertrude Atherton
Topics: Pride
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