The Art of Love

Set in San Francisco at the end of the Gilded Age, A.B. Michaels’s historical romance novel The Art of Love features Augustus Wolff and Amelia Starling, two people haunted by troubled pasts who find solace in each other when they journey to the “new Sodom and Gomorrah” to find new lives for themselves. Balancing historical accounts of Old New York life and the Gold Rush, and including elements of mystery, the book recounts the couple's struggle to find each other in romance despite the scorn of the people around them.

Augustus Wolff, or Gus, was one of many men who traveled from their homes to Alaska to find gold and make themselves a fortune. With hard work and good luck, Gus dug up pounds of gold, enough to make a new life for himself and do to whatever he pleased. He spent most of his time in Klondike region, digging in frozen fields; now he is ready for a warmer climate and a new life far from the dark frontiers of the North.

Gus is also running from something. Recently, his wife and young daughter disappeared in an event that dumbfounded both Gus and the sheriff working the case. Gus decides to head to San Francisco, a bustling city of sin and wealth, in order to forget the memory of his beloved family, and move on.



On the other side of the continent, Amelia Starling is a talented artist living in New York with her straight-laced family, who believe in certain customs and traditions that make Amelia crazy. Amelia doesn't feel she can truly express herself in New York, where the wandering eyes of her neighbors and community gossip force her into a tight box of what it means to be a proper woman. Desiring a new start for and an opportunity to bring her art to the next level, Amelia makes the daring decision to move to San Francisco, knowing all the while that the city has much darker corners than the New York she is accustomed to.

In San Francisco, Gus has used his gold money to make even more of a name and a fortune for himself in the San Francisco business market. Gus lives it up in the city, enjoying the pleasures of being in a place without many social constraints. Nevertheless, despite his new life of wealth, success, and women, he isn't happy. He can't shake the memory of his family or the weight of his grief.

When Amelia meets Gus in the art scene, their connection is unique, and they both believe they might finally be happy. However, both are haunted by old wounds. Amelia struggles with her reputation, which follows her across the continent and is revealed despite her best efforts – in a nasty divorce, she was cited in the divorce documents as having a lesbian partner (her friend, Sandy, who traveled with her to San Francisco) and committing adultery. Of course, the reality is much more complicated, involving blackmail and long family ties that tore apart any desire or autonomy Amelia had. Her reputation makes life challenging for her and Gus, complicated by Gus's own lies, which follow him from Alaska and relate to his wife's disappearance.



Sick of being the talk of the town, Amelia decides to start life over with a clean slate in Europe. Gus loves her and wants to follow her wherever she goes. However, in order for their romance to work, Gus has to come to terms with his own lies and grief.

With a degree in history from UCLA, A.B. Michaels writes romance fiction. Particularly interested in the Gilded Age, both of her series, The Golden City and The Sinners Grove take place in San Francisco during this period in history, covering subjects from parenting to divorce to bias to romance. The Art of Love is the first book in The Golden City series and is followed by The Depth of Beauty, The Promise, The Price of Compassion, and Josephine's Daughter. She also wrote The Sinner's Grove, a historical suspense series following descendants from The Golden City series. The Art of Love won a 2014 Notable Indie Book award, a Silver Ippy Award, and was Editor's Choice for the Idaho Book Awards.