Ciji Ware Steps Back Into History

Posted May 11, 2011, 1:00 pm in Entertainment

Longtime listeners of the Growing Bolder Radio Show will recognize the name Ciji Ware. She's a well-known decluttering expert and her book, "Rightsizing Your Life" landed in the top five for the Wall St. Journal's Books of the Year.

Ciji is also a novelist and has been a radio and television commentator in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. She holds a degree in history from Harvard University and was the first woman graduate of Harvard to serve as president of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Recently, she celebrated the release of her new novel in grand style.

Dressed in full 1906 costumes, Ciji and 125 friends, supporters and fans gathered at the historic Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate the release of her book, "A Race to Splendor."

The party was held on April 17, 2011 -- the eve of the 105th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. 

Here's how Publishers Weekly describes Ciji's book:

For her sixth novel (after A Light on the Veranda), Ware returns to historicals with an unlikely romance framed around San Francisco's devastating earthquake of 1906. New architect Amelia Bradshaw returns to the city to claim what's left of the Bay View, her grandfather's hotel next to Chinatown, only to find that her drunkard father has lost it to J.D. Thayer in a poker game. After an unsuccessful court battle—at a time when women had no right of possession—Bradshaw takes a job as junior architect under Julia Morgan, the first licensed female architect in California history. When Morgan's firm is selected to rebuild the Bay View, along with its competitor, the Fairmont, Bradshaw is put in charge of the former, forcing her to work closely with Mr. Thayer, her adversary, who is determined to beat the anniversary of the quake and the opening of the Fairmont. In time, Bradshaw and Thayer learn that they have more in common than they think, and Bradshaw grows close to some of the Chinese workers, giving Ware a chance to chronicle the despair faced by that community during the disaster. Ware's trailblazing woman is a feisty host for an affecting story of the struggle to rise above the wreckage of mankind.

In the coming weeks, we'll be interviewing Ciji about her new book on the Growing Bolder Radio Show. Until then, click through the photos below and step back to the turn of the 20th century.

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