KATHLEEN THOMPSON NORRIS - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/1927 - HFSID 80735

KATHLEEN THOMPSON NORRIS
Author Kathleen Thompson Norris wrote this letter in 1927 to describe one of the children - all grown up and married now - that she took in after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. She dedicated her 1927 book Barberry Bush to this girl.
Autograph letter signed "Kathleen Norris.". 1 page, 6x7 ¾ with scalloped edges, 1 sheet folded. San Francisco, California, dated "November 1927". In full: "Dear Mr. Hathaway - the 'Marjorie' of the dedication to 'Barberry Bush' was a little girl just 16 in 1906, a friend of a younger sister of mine, who was visiting us in a little mountain town near San Francisco - a village across the bay, under the shadow of a big mountain, where our old house was, on that memorable 18th of April that brought the big earthquake. Her own house was destroyed, so she stayed with us - and the earthquake brought home the oldest brother, too, the head of our orphaned half dozen - and a few months later little Marjorie married the big brother, and first they had a boy baby, named for him, and then a girl baby, named for her - and all through these years the affection of the big for the little, and the little for the big, has been a very real asset and delight in all our lives - something of which the dedication tries to express! I emerge from those long sentences breathlessly yours". Norris lived in Mill Valley, California, north of San Francisco, during the 1906 earthquake that destroyed the city. Norris published the book Barberry Bush in 1927. We're unsure who Marjorie is, though. Once one of the highest paid woman writers in the United States, Norris (1880-1966) began writing after marrying author Charles G. Norris in 1909 and published her first of many novels, Mother, in 1911. She became famous for sentimental, but honest, romantic novels and short stories, as well as a syndicated column that ran for 20 years. 16 of her novels and short stories were adapted to film between 1918 and 1935; her novel Josselyn's Wife was filmed twice (1919 and 1926). A feminist, Norris also supported world disarmament, women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty and, later in life, nuclear weapons. Folds and creases, not at signature. Lightly soiled. Adhesive residue at right edge, which touches handwriting but not signature, and on verso (no show-through). Otherwise in fine condition.