Mother of Five and Others

He was born in Albany, New York.

An avid reader as a boy, Harte published his first work at age 11.

He spent part of his life in the northern California coastal town of Union (now known as Arcata).

During the twenty-four years he spent in Europe, he never abandoned writing, and maintained a prodigious output of stories that retained the freshness of his earlier work. He died in Camberley England in 1902 of throat cancer and is buried at Frimley.

Bret Harte was praised as uniquely American:

“A whispering pine of the Sierras transplanted to Fifth Avenue! How could it grow? Although it shows some faint signs of life, how sickly are the leaves! As for fruit, there is none. America had in Bret Harte its most distinctively national poet.”

This book is the collection of his famous short stories. Much of his work was based on life in the Californian mining camps.

Hope you enjoy listening to them.

01 - A Mother of Five
02 - The Right Eye of the Commander
03 - Bulger’s Reputation
04 - In the Tules
05 - A Convert of the Mission
06 - The Indiscretion of Elsbeth