Linda Ulleseit Under the Almond Trees Paperback Book

As a historian and a California Bay Area native, I really loved this book! ~Amazon reviewer"Linda Ulleseit writes with knowledge and passion." ~Amazon reviewerUnder the Almond Trees is the story of three ordinary women in California who lived extraordinary lives. It starts with a falling tree branch that kills Ellen VanValkenburghs husband in 1862, forcing her to assume leadership of his paper mill, something women werent allowed to do. Women werent allowed to vote yet, either. Ellen decided that had to change, and became a suffragette. In 1901, Emily Williams, Ellens daughterinlaw, became an architect very much against her familys wishes. No one would hire a woman, but Emily would not be deterred. She and her life partner Lillian set out to build homes themselves. By the 1930s women enjoyed more freedom, including the vote. Even so, Ellens granddaughter Eva VanValkenburgh chose a traditional life of marriage and children, even closing her photography business at her husbands insistence. When he later refused to pay for their daughters college education, Eva followed the example of her Aunt Emily and reopened her photography business. | Linda Ulleseit Under the Almond Trees Paperback Book