About Gertrude Atherton
Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) was an American writer whose novels and short stories are often compared to Henry James and Edith Wharton. Born in San Francisco, she eloped at the age of nineteen. Though her husband disapproved of her writing, she continued, and with his death in 1887, she pursued her writing career full time under the guidance of Ambrose Bierce. Considered one of the early feminists, she wrote sixty books and numerous short works.