Book Discussion, Saturday, October 3, 2015, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies

From a review by Clea Simon in The San Francisco Chronicle:

"Confession may be good for the soul, but it can be dull to read. Ever since the first antiheroes (and antiheroines) shared their stories under the guise of cautionary tales, the best authors have known this to be true—and have given their repentant retellings more emphasis than the contrition that follows. Longtime nonfiction author Phillip Margulies follows this format with "Belle Cora," a rollicking first novel that tracks an American Moll Flanders on her roller-coaster ride from respectability into quite profitable sin and back again. As her fortunes rise and fall, her life, which spans 1828 to 1919, also serves as an enjoyable allegory for the settling of the American West, with plenty of sex and violence along the way."

Meet the Author

Phillip Margulies

The only biographical information available anywhere on the internet reads:  Phillip Margulies is the author of several books on science, politics, and history for young adults. He has won two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children. However, I was also able to find an article where he was interviewed about his favorite place to write. [Spoiler: It's Starbucks.]

The Story Behind the Story

There really was a Belle Cora. Her name was Arabella Ryan. She is most famous as having been the paramour and last-minute wife of Charles Cora, a gambler who was hanged by the Vigilance Committee in San Francisco in 1856. This article tells the story.

Execution of James P. Casey and Charles Cora by the Vigilance Committee, May 22, 1856.