IN THE
SHADOW
OF THE
CYPRESS
IN THE
SHADOW
OF THE
CYPRESS
THOMAS STEINBECK
GALLERY BOOKS
NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY
Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Thomas Steinbeck
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books hardcover edition April 2010
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Designed by Joy O’Meara
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinbeck, Thomas.
In the shadow of the cypress / Thomas Steinbeck.—1st Gallery Books
hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Chinese—California—Fiction. 2. Immigrants—California—Fiction.
3. California—History—1850–1950—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3619.T47615I52 2010
813'.6—dc22
2009033355
ISBN 978-1-4391-6825-7
ISBN 978-1-4391-6988-9 (ebook)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bringing any book into print is as much a team effort as staging a play, or producing a film, and in that regard there are a number of very able people who are owed not only credit for this book, but also my full store of gratitude and appreciation.
First I wish to thank my very talented wife, Gail Knight Steinbeck, for her tireless efforts as my agent. Her mastery of complex contract negotiations has saved my bacon on numerous occasions, and her support and skills as a first-draft editor have proved invaluable over the years. In that same vein I wish to thank Dan Smetanka, a truly