My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Emilia discusses how close she is, even as an adult, with her stepfather, who cultivated her deep curiosity. They share many hobbies, including reading dime novels. When Emilia is 17, he suggests that she should write one herself, seeing it as a way to explore. Her story, which she calls The Damsel’s Revenge, features a woman as the protagonist who saves herself after being wronged. Emilia decides on Brandon J. Price as her penname, and Pancho Claro takes it to a publisher because Emilia would have been ignored as a woman. The novel’s popularity leads Emilia to writing a second novel, and Brandon J. Price gains popularity. To celebrate her success, Don Pancho gives Emilia a medallion of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

When she is 22, Emilia meets with the editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, The Daily Examiner, hoping to get a job. She explains her writing background, and he initially tries to place her in the social pages. However, Emilia insists that she can cover crime. He tells her that it’s not a job for a woman but gives her 18 hours to write a column on a local murder. She has to do better than the man he’s already got covering it, and no matter what, her work will be published under her pen name.

Emilia investigates the murder of Senator Arnold Cole, a member of the upper class in San Francisco. His death is the subject of much gossip in the Mission District, and while Emilia does not have the same police connections as other reporters, she knows to make use of her community’s knowledge. She learns that Cole believed that the United States was a white Protestant country, and he died when someone shot him.

Emilia speaks with Josefa Palomar, who cleaned Cole’s house. While Cole’s body was found on the street on Wednesday, Josefa tells Emilia that he was dead when she arrived at his house on Tuesday to clean. She was scared and didn’t know what to do, so she fled. She also tells Emilia that she frequently saw men coming and going from Cole’s apartment.

Emilia turns in her story to the editor, who calls in Eric Whelan, the other reporter covering the case. The editor hands Eric the column, and when he wonders who Brandon J. Price is, points to Emilia.

The column appears, recounting how Cole’s body was found on the street and that his wife had not seen him since Tuesday. Emilia also alludes to the likely possibility of Cole’s secret affairs with men. The editor hires Emilia as a columnist while Eric will continue to cover the news. Her columns will offer a more personal perspective on events through the lens of Brandon J. Price.

Emilia continues to investigate Cole’s death for her second column. She interviews the custodian at the morgue and meets with Eric, who admits that Cole was gay. In return, she tells Whelan where to find the apartment where Cole met with men but does not reveal how she knows.

Eric becomes Emilia’s mentor and friend. He encourages Emilia to travel, and she does, pitching a travel column in which she’ll spend one month in New York. Paid a paltry wage as a woman at The Daily Examiner, Emilia dreams of writing a novel under her own name.

Emilia enjoys a smooth ride to New York via a first-class train ticket. She opts to stay at a boardinghouse where many immigrants live, noticing how her new surroundings are much more crowded than the Mission District. She meets up with Eric’s brother, Owen Whelan, and gives him the box of cigarettes Eric sent for him. They quickly begin sleeping together, and Emilia falls in love, even though Owen warns her that he is not interested in a relationship. He also introduces her to Victoria Woodhall’s writings and the idea of “free love.”

Emilia writes several columns on her life in New York, including one on a séance and one on an exotic dancer. When she tries to write about a suffragist march or a strike led by female workers, however, her editor does not think that the events are relevant to their San Francisco readers.

She spends her last night with Owen at her hotel. When she departs, he does not kiss her goodbye, much to her disappointment. On the way back to San Francisco, she travels third-class, realizing how different it is from her initial journey to New York. Many who share her car are immigrants, and their journey is extended when their car is unhooked from the train to make room for cargo or first-class cars.

Eric meets Emilia at the train station. From him, she learns that Owen is married, though he does not know that Emilia had sex with him. Emilia resolves to never sleep with a married man again.

Eric and Emilia grow closer, and she learns about his childhood. He and Owen came to the United States from Ireland when Eric was 14. He started his career by writing ads, and Emilia thinks he “is the best journalist in California” (63).

Brandon J. Price gains fame as a journalist, as Emilia’s travel chronicles perform well with readers. Emilia has to keep her identity secret, and though she is invited to give lectures, she turns down the opportunities, garnering a reputation for Price as “mysterious.” When she tells her editor that she cannot remain anonymous forever, he refuses. However, an opportunity presents itself in 1891 that changes Emilia’s life.

Mr. Chamberlain assigns a story about Chile and its civil war to Emilia and Eric. The rebels are trying to get weapons in New York and then send them to Chile via California. The United States government supports the Chilean government, making any efforts by rebels on US soil antithetical to America’s position on Chile. However, the US also has a stake in Chilean mineral deposits, which are controlled by the English.

Emilia volunteers to go since she speaks Spanish and her father is Chilean. Eric decides to go, too, and cover the war, while Chamberlain charges Emilia with writing human interest stories. She and Eric also agree to each cover one side of the war. Eric plans to cover the rebels while she follows the government. 

Emilia’s first story under her own name comes out in April 1891, and she introduces her readers to Chile and its situation: The United States continues to back the Chilean government because of its interest in nitrate, which is found in both fertilizers and explosives, while the British support the rebels. 

Emilia sees the assignment as a way to learn about her history, and she prepares to travel. Before she leaves, Molly gives her a letter addressed to Gonzalo Andrés del Valle. When she reads it, Emilia learns of the resentment Molly holds for her birth father and isn’t sure whether she wants to deliver the letter. Emilia also reassures Don Pacho that he will always be her father.

She goes to Los Angeles, where a crate of weapons has been discovered en route to Chile. In Los Angeles, Emilia has to plan her attire strategically, knowing that she will walk a lot. She is jealous that Eric’s appearance does not matter, but because she is a woman, hers does. She meets with a sheriff tasked with stopping weapons from leaving the US. He explains that although the rebels purchased the weapons legally, the American government can seize them because they are to be used against an allied nation. When they try to transfer the arms from one ship to another out at sea, he will stop them. Emilia wishes to accompany him but is not permitted because she is a woman.

The US port authorities foil the weapons transfer in San Diego. Emilia is not present but learns what happened from Eric. Emilia carries on to Chile aboard the USS Charleston—a favor from a senator to her editor permits her to board the all-male ship. She spends three weeks at sea.