Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain
MILDRED PIERCE
by James M. Cain
First published in 1941
CHAPTER I
IN THE SPRING of 1931, on a lawn in Glendale, California, a man was bracing trees. It was a tedious job, for be had first to prune dead twigs, then wrap canvas buffers around weak branches, then wind rope slings over the buffers and tie them to the trunks, to hold the weight of the avocados that would ripen in the fall. Yet, although it was a hot afternoon, he took his time about it, and was conscientiously thoroug ...