The Art of Love: Origins of Sinner's Grove
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Authors: A.B. Michaels
THE ART OF LOVE
Copyright © 2014 by A.B. Michaels
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-9915089-1-4
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, please write to:
Red Trumpet Press
P. O. Box 171162
Boise, ID 83716
Design by Tara Mayberry
For my late grandfather R.T.,
whose memories of life in the Klondike
made it sound like great fun, even though,
having researched it, I know better.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
C
ontrary to popular belief, writing is in no way a solitary pursuit. From the time an idea pops into your mind, it invariably goes through a lot of other minds before it ends up on the page.
Thanks to Susan, my very best brainstormer, plotter, and idea bouncer-offer: you are a master gardener of ideas…
…and to my editor, Rachel, a true artist who can take a lump of literary clay and sculpt it into something well worth reading. I am in awe.
Thanks to Christy, Heidi, Tara, and Donna, who lend their technical expertise in so many ways and with such grace…
…and to my friends and colleagues at the Idaho Writer’s Guild, who foster a nurturing atmosphere of “we’re all in this together,” which we are.
Last but never least, a special thanks to Mike, who would much rather watch basketball than read romance, but who loves and supports me anyway. I couldn’t ask for more than that.
HISTORICAL NOTE
A
lthough
The Art of Love
is a work of fiction and the protagonists are drawn from my imagination, a number of the secondary characters, such as the Klondike King C.J. Berry and the artist William Keith, are historical figures. Descriptions of landmarks such as San Francisco’s Cliff House Restaurant, the Sutro Baths, and the Palace Hotel are as accurate as I could make them, based on the research and the requirements of the story.
A.B. Michaels
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
v
HISTORICAL NOTE
vii
CHAPTER ONE
3
CHAPTER TWO
13
CHAPTER THREE
25
CHAPTER FOUR
35
CHAPTER FIVE
43
CHAPTER SIX
55
CHAPTER SEVEN
61
PART TWO
65
CHAPTER EIGHT
67
CHAPTER NINE
77
CHAPTER TEN
85
CHAPTER ELEVEN
93
CHAPTER TWELVE
101
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
109
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
119
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
125
PART THREE
133
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
135
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
141
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
147
CHAPTER NINETEEN
153
CHAPTER TWENTY
161
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
171
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
177
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
189
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
197
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
205
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
213
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
223
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
229
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
239
CHAPTER THIRTY
245
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
255
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
259
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
269
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
275
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
283
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
291