Oscar Lewis sets his first novel in mid-1850s San Francisco. An "authorized biography" of a California entrepreneur has just been published, but James Horton is scarcely recognizable to those who knew him. Walter Doane, novelist and longtime friend of the Horton family, is persuaded to set down his own reminiscences of the irascible Horton and, most notably, Christine Winton, Horton's mistress. It is from Doane's perspective that this fascinating...