In the Gold Rush days, San Francisco city grew tenfold, where dreamers came to build a new world and ruthless men enjoyed their own money grab in a corrupt free-for-all. It was the ultimate political startup of its time. And into this lawless shantytown stepped Belle Cora. A stunning beauty with a stunning mind to match, she had ambitions of her own to be the most powerful woman in the city. The Legend of Belle Cora is a sweeping, historical account of her coming of age story set against the backdrop of a still-young America expanding west. Her journey starts in her hometown of Baltimore as the beloved daughter of a merchant, takes her through an adventure in New Orleans, and ends with fame and heartache in San Francisco Originally written by the late San Francisco celebrated lawyer and native San Franciscan Phil Ryan, and completed by his widow, Dina Bitton, The Legend of Belle Cora was his second novel to cast a critical eye at the life and times of a struggling America and its people.