ALLISON PATAKI is the NYTimes Bestselling author of THE TRAITOR'S WIFE, THE ACCIDENTAL EMPRESS, SISI:EMPRESS ON HER OWN, WHERE THE LIGHT FALLS, and the memoir, BEAUTY IN THE BROKEN PLACES.
In 1947 Chuck Williams arrived in Sonoma, CA with the idea of building homes—first as a contractor, later as the owner of a hardware shop and finally as the founder of the first Williams-Sonoma store …