The Stranger in Big Sur

by Lillian Bos Ross

Copyright 1942, 2nd printing, ex-library, hardcover, 282 pages. "The first of the Big Sur Trilogy. Story begins in 1870 as rugged and uncouth Zande Allen arrives on horseback at the stage in Monterey to meet Hannah, his mail order bride. The strong-willed Hannah came from the east by rail and stage to marry and live with him on his cattle ranch on the remote south coast. Set in the beautiful Big Sur Santa Lucia mountains." Heavy library rebound, library cardholder/stamps/notations inside with sticker taped to lower spine. Occasional bent page corner, small rip, or smudge. Binding is secure.

Genres: Fiction

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

Reviews

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one a long time ago and then re-read it for a book group. I love this book. It evokes the spirit of pioneering in the Big Sur area. The movie based on it (Zandy's Bride) didn't do it justice.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent history of the big sur coast around the turn of the century told from the view of a mail order bride from Kansas

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read about a mail order bride.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The movie version, Zande's Bride with the beautiful Liv Ullman and Gene Hackman is good...

[Aimee Morales Clear · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to read this book with an open mind, despite the fact that I had already seen the movie Zandy's Bride. The movie covered the book well, but as always it didn't compare at all to the book. The Stranger was well written with a prose that I would venture to say would be quite accurate to the time and location this was taken up with.
Much of the family adaptions and dynamics of what it may have been like as a mail order bride was well written and thought out.(Oddly enough it wasn't even written in her perspective, it was written in the 1st person of the main male character). I felt the hot headed leading male wouldn't have been as impulsive as the writer sometimes made him out to be, but then again it all meshes throughout the book so I won't judge.
Writer does a good job at most points when describing the terrain and beauty thereof, however at one point she gets a little sloppy and speaks in ways that makes you feel she doesn't know what exactly she's trying to describe. I didn't get lost in her perplexing wordiness, I just skimmed the two pages and got the jist and continued on.
The book definitely is much better than the movie, and the movie is pretty good, so I would recommend the book.

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this only because a library customer loaned me her personal copy and insisted that I read it because I’d love it. Nope.

[Lisa Church Sielen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading about early California pioneering.

[Lori Vaccaro French · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this peek back into the history of Big Sur.