The Phoenix Crown: A Novel

Gemma Garland is one of the novel’s protagonists. Born Sally Gunderson in Nebraska, she lived in an orphanage after her parents passed away when she was 14. She changed her name to Gemma Garland when she became a professional singer: an opera soprano. At the beginning of Act I, in 1906, she is 32 and working with the Metropolitan Opera company. She suffers from migraines, which caused her to lose her job with her previous company. Because her disability intermittently prevents her from managing her finances, she gave her agent access to her money, and he stole all her savings. Gemma plans to meet her old friend Nellie in San Francisco and start over there. She spends much of the novel trying to act tough so she doesn’t get hurt again.

When she arrives in the Bay Area, Gemma brings with her a pet bird named Toscanini. She can’t find Nellie, so she rents her room in a Nob Hill boardinghouse. However, after Henry becomes her patron, she moves most of her things into his mansion. Once they discover the truth about him, Henry tries to burn Gemma and her friends alive by locking them in his house and