Pale Truth

by Daniel Alef

Overview

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
California joined the Union in 1850; just in time for the state's sesquicentennial comes this big, ambitious and well-researched debut, the first in a planned historical trilogy from Santa Ynez valley lawyer Alef. In 1829, a light-skinned daughter is born to a young slave on a Georgia plantation. Rejected by her real mother, baby Mary Ellen is taken into the big house under the tutelage of the plantation owner's childless wife; before dying of cancer, sheen trusts the 13-year-old's future to a friend, Americus Price, leaving her a substantial inheritance and granting her freedom at age18. After years passing for white in a New Orleans convent school,Mary Ellen comes of age, visits Price's Missouri plantation and travels on to Cincinnati, where she encounters the abolitionist John Brown. By 1849, disappointment and trauma in Ohio lead Mary Ellen to seek a fresh start in California. On her way by ship, she nurses the Scotsman Thomas Brand back to health and assists the embittered ex-Manhattanite Colbraith O'Brien. The trio then make their way to San Francisco, where Mary Ellen, Colbraith, Brand and a large cast of minor characters enter the fast-growing town's rough politics and its burgeoning net of business endeavors, from real estate holdings to squabbling fire companies. Will strangers from her past wreck Mary Ellen's new life by revealing her racial heritage? Alef based his key characters on real people: an afterword, timeline and bibliography layout his historical sources. Readers will enjoy keeping track of Mary Ellen's complex life and the intricate dealings among the San Francisco figures she meets. Alef's prose, if hardly subtle, keeps the plot moving, and his settings are effective. This entertaining saga will leave many readers eager for the planned sequels.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Mary Ellen, born a slave in Georgia, is light-skinned and intellectually extraordinary. As a young girl, she is taken under the wing of her childless mistress, who gives her an outstanding education and emancipates her upon adulthood. Belonging nowhere, but financially independent thanks to an inheritance from her white mentor, the young woman strikes out for San Francisco, risking the hazardous Panama crossing to reach a frontier where she can hope for new possibilities. There she passes as a white woman, secretly amassing a financial empire in the burgeoning economy of the Gold Rush, and finding her life intertwined with many of the historical figures who shaped California's history. San Francisco from 1849 to 1853 is a spectacular setting for a big novel, and Alef takes full advantage of the possibilities as he blends history with fiction. The protagonist is loosely based on a real person, Mammy Pleasants. She and the other characters are colorful, the story is engaging, and the presentation is impressive: excellent design, lavish period illustrations, and interesting afterword and time line-even an extensive bibliography.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608040018
Publisher:	Titans of Fortune Publishing
Publication date:	10/20/2010
Series:	Titans of Fortune
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	17 Years

About the Author

Daniel Alef has written many articles, one law book, one historical anthology, Centennial Stories, and authored the award-winning historical novel, Pale Truth (MaxIt Publishing, 2000). Foreword Magazine named Pale Truth book of the year for general fiction in 2001 and the novel received many outstanding reviews including ones from Publishers Weekly and the American Library Association's Booklist. A sequel to Pale Truth, currently entitled Measured Swords, has just been completed. Titans of Fortune, biographical profiles of America's great moguls, men and women who had a profound impact on America and the World, began in April 2003. He is also a contributor to the recently released reference work: Gender and Women's Leadership pubished by Sage Publishing. Mr. Alef's experience as a lawyer, CEO of a public company, a rancher, and author, combined with his academic background-UCLA (B.S.), UCLA Law School (J.D.), the London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M.), and Cambridge University (post-graduate studies)-gave him the perception to analyze the powerful titans and their achievements, and to place their lives and triumphs in a larger perspective. The Titans of Fortune series of articles appeared in several newspapers including the Lee Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, and became a weekly column in the Santa Barbara News Press. Mr. Alef also had a one-hour weekly radio show based on the Titans of Fortune column. He has appeared as a guest speaker and lecturer at various university, Rotary, and Kiwanis clubs, public libraries including San Francisco and Chicago, cruise ships, and at numerous historical societies across the nation. Mr. Alef serves on the Board of Trustees of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and on the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Activities League. He is a black belt in judo and one of the head instructors of the University of California at Santa Barbara Judo Club. He currently lives with his family in Santa Barbara.

What People are Saying About This

Willie Brown

The sweeping tale of a freed slave’s migration from a Georgia plantation to the emerging metropolis of San Francisco is a page-turner on its own, but for anyone interested in the history of the City by the Bay, Pale Truth is a must-read. (Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco)

Noah benShea

In the school of E.L. Doctorow’s classic, Ragtime, Mr. Alef has spent 10 years crafting these tales that venture with historic authenticity and page turning passion in a past world.

Editorial Reviews

General fiction Book of the Year Award winner.

ForeWord Magazine

California joined the Union in 1850; just in time for the state's sesquicentennial comes this big, ambitious and well-researched debut, the first in a planned historical trilogy from Santa Ynez valley lawyer Alef. In 1829, a light-skinned daughter is born to a young slave on a Georgia plantation. Rejected by her real mother, baby Mary Ellen is taken into the big house under the tutelage of the plantation owner's childless wife; before dying of cancer, she entrusts the 13-year-old's future to a friend, Americus Price, leaving her a substantial inheritance and granting her freedom at age 18. After years passing for white in a New Orleans convent school, Mary Ellen comes of age, visits Price's Missouri plantation and travels on to Cincinnati, where she encounters the abolitionist John Brown. By 1849, disappointment and trauma in Ohio lead Mary Ellen to seek a fresh start in California. On her way by ship, she nurses the Scotsman Thomas Brand back to health and assists the embittered ex-Manhattanite Colbraith O'Brien. The trio then make their way to San Francisco, where Mary Ellen, Colbraith, Brand and a large cast of minor characters enter the fast-growing town's rough politics and its burgeoning net of business endeavors, from real estate holdings to squabbling fire companies. Will strangers from her past wreck Mary Ellen's new life by revealing her racial heritage? Alef based his key characters on real people: an afterword, timeline and bibliography lay out his historical sources. Readers will enjoy keeping track of Mary Ellen's complex life and the intricate dealings among the San Francisco figures she meets. Alef's prose, if hardly subtle, keeps the plot moving, and his settings are effective. This entertaining saga will leave many readers eager for the planned sequels. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Adult/High School-Mary Ellen, born a slave in Georgia, is light-skinned and intellectually extraordinary. As a young girl, she is taken under the wing of her childless mistress, who gives her an outstanding education and emancipates her upon adulthood. Belonging nowhere, but financially independent thanks to an inheritance from her white mentor, the young woman strikes out for San Francisco, risking the hazardous Panama crossing to reach a frontier where she can hope for new possibilities. There she passes as a white woman, secretly amassing a financial empire in the burgeoning economy of the Gold Rush, and finding her life intertwined with many of the historical figures who shaped California's history. San Francisco from 1849 to 1853 is a spectacular setting for a big novel, and Alef takes full advantage of the possibilities as he blends history with fiction. The protagonist is loosely based on a real person, Mammy Pleasants. She and the other characters are colorful, the story is engaging, and the presentation is impressive: excellent design, lavish period illustrations, and interesting afterword and time line-even an extensive bibliography. Strangely (and sadly), the prose is passable at best. Still, even though Alef isn't a great stylist, he tells a really good story that many teens will enjoy.-Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Set against the San Francisco gold rush fever of 1849, Daniel Alef's Pale Truth finds Mary Ellen, whose cultured demeanor masks a deeply held personal secret. Neither the "Vigilante Committee", the U.S. government, nor a group of San Francisco thugs called the "Hounds", can stop Her growing political and financial empire, nor her dedicated determination to end slavery in American and transform the city by the bay into the Pearl of the Pacific. But every aspiration and dream has a price — one that even Mary Ellen must pay. Pale Truth is a fabulously entertaining historical novel of intrigue, clashing interests, and the indomitable human spirit.