The Carmelo Diaries: A California Saga

By Marilou Tomblin

The modern story begins at the time when the world famous Pro-Am golf tournament is played at Pebble Beach, California. Rita Minetti, eighth generation Californian, is enmeshed in a mysterious burglary of her antique bookshop in Pebble Beach.

The pivotal part of the burglary is the disappearance of family diaries, written in Spanish, by Clarita de Segovia, born in Alta California. Clarita, age fifteen, began writing a diary during her sequestered days before her marriage to a man she had never met.

She continued writing dairies during a tumultuous time in California history. The American Conquest and The Gold Rush. Her granddaughter, Isabel, brings the story to the twentieth century by writing more about Clarita and her descendents in her own journals.

An ambitious Monterey County Sheriff is eager to question Rita, her friends, and her family, while Rita believes she can solve the mystery by herself. She is torn between the quest of finding the diaries, protecting the family prestige, and pursuing her goal of selling Claritia's story to a television production company.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595290620
• ISBN13: 9780595290628
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Better than I thought it would be

I just finished reading the book and enjoyed it beyond my initial expectations. I must admit that I received the book as a gift from my parents who know the author. Since I myself do not know the author nor have I met her, I feel it is fair to write a review.While I prefer non-fiction to fiction I thought I would give this historical fiction a reading. I honestly liked it. It's not a great book, but it was entertaining and it has wet my appetite to learn more about California history. It made me think about a time in history of people that I have not thought much about before. Perhaps the structure of the book is not unique but it was a refreshing change to straight non-fiction.In my opinion the previous review was unfair. I read that review when I was about one quarter of the way through my reading. I was conscious to what the reviewer said during my reading and in the end I disagree. After rereading the review it is apparent the reviewer bought the book by the title alone and perhaps read some excerpts. Unfullfiled expectations rarely satisfy. I don't speak Spanish so I can't comment on the cultural aspects but from a grammatical and editorial perspective, this book is no worse than most other books I have read. If you read any amount you will come across grammatical and spelling errors. In this age of text processing we are still nowhere close to being perfect.Perhaps a young girl of the time may not have written the way the `dairies' read, but if they were written in the way the previous reviewer expected I probably would not have finished the book. There is enough mystery, character development, and history weaved to be entertaining and thought provoking.If you read a lot of fiction this book would be a light read in comparison, but if you are like most people who do not read a lot this book is very accessible and entertaining. I have no choice but to give it 5 starts to counter the previous review.