The Silverado Squatters: A Sojourn in Napa County, California, in the Summer of 1880 (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)

"The scene of this little book is on a high mountain. Its naked peak stands nearly four thousand five hundred feet above the sea; its sides are fringed with forest; and the soil, where it is bare, glows warm with cinnabar."

Taken from the diaries Robert Louis Stevenson kept during a unique period, The Silverado Squatters is punctuated with colorful portrayals of quirky and eccentric inhabitants and fascinating descriptions of the daily trials of living simply in the wild. This is a remarkably personal and revealing memoir by one of the most-loved writers in American history. Suffering from bronchitis and newly married, Stevenson and his wife went to the Mayacamas Mountains of California for an unconventional honeymoon. For two months, the couple lived an an abandoned millhouse on the shoulder of Mt. Saint Helena, where bears roamed and fierce winds blew into the valley. Aftering recovering from his illness, Stevenson was inspired to write these diaries, which will be a revelation for readers of travel writing and fans of Stevenson alike.