The Little Lady of Lagunitas: A Franco-Californian Romance

In 1840s California, the land itself is changing. Captain Miguel Peralta, a proud son of the Californio aristocracy, watches foreign traders disappear from the harbor under Mexican rule and wonders what new forces are rolling in with the tide. Amidst the swirling tensions of a territory on the edge of transformation, he claims Juanita Castro as his bride, binding their futures to a world about to dissolve. Richard Savage's forgotten romance captures California in its final, luminous moment before American annexation, weaving personal passion through the fabric of historical upheaval. The novel pulses with vivid customs, romantic longing, and the particular ache of loving something you sense you are about to lose. For readers who crave historical romance with genuine weight, who want to feel the dust and smell the jasmine while the political ground shifts beneath every character, this novel delivers both heartache and the intimate details of a vanished era.