The Bohemians

Born in the San Francisco Bay Area with immigrant grandparents, I couldn't put this book down.

This is the story of photographer Dorothea Lange's arrival in San Francisco in 1918, the people she met, the friends she made, the city she adopted, the pictures she took, and the artists who lived side by side in what is now Little Italy.

It is beautifully rendered with grit and tension, everything that makes for good writing. We learn about the Spanish flu, the wars, the Golden Gate Bridge, the anti-Chinese sentiment, the corrupt politicians, artists, and the great bohemians and their supporters… show more.

An interesting thing about reading this book is that I had read a novel about Dorothea Lange only months earlier. But when Darznik’s publicist reached out and asked me to read it, I couldn’t resist! Why? Because I love Dorothea and can’t get enough of her.

Dorothea is exactly the kind of woman I want to be BFFs with. But whose story would give me the intimate connection I was looking for? Jasmin Darznik, in her enchanting new novel, The Bohemians, that’s who.

On page one, I stepped into the relationship of two daring and talented women who seem… show more.

Dorothea Lange went on to achieve fame as a documentary photographer during the Great Depression, but this book takes us back to the 1920s and her arrival in San Francisco. Working as a photographer’s assistant, Dorothea has scrimped in order to save her earnings, in the hope of establishing her own studio. But within an hour of getting off the bus, she falls victim to a pickpocket who takes every penny. 

With only wits and talent to survive on, like the residents who rebuilt the city after the great earthquake, Dorothea too must find a way. Soon she meets Caroline… show more.