Napa Valley native and former twenty-year San Francisco resident, P.L. Cowger, writes from the heart in her debut novel. After a diverse professional life as a math teacher and software developer, along with a thirty-two-year career as an architectural interior designer, she began her retirement devoted to a personal project—bringing family stories and memories to life. Petra's Quest is an affectionate tribute to both her Italian heritage and San Francisco, the city she remembers as the most beautiful in the country.

Dear Reader,

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When I was a young girl growing up in rural Napa Valley in the 1960s, there were only two places where my mother and I wore white gloves—Sunday Mass and San Francisco.

"The City," as Northern Californians called San Francisco, was a magical place in this country girl's eyes with its iconic bridges, Victorian Painted Ladies, clanging cable cars, and downtown architecture. The grandeur of Union Square, the intrigue of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, and the distinct neighborhoods thriving with cultures from around the world were spellbinding. How I loved the soothing notes of the baritone foghorns… and the food! My parents' go-to restaurants were Scoma's and Alioto's in Fisherman's Wharf, and the Cliff House, precariously overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

San Francisco was less than an hour’s drive from Napa. My father, who was raised in the City, always chose the scenic route through Marin County rather than the east side of the Bay. We were partial to the Golden Gate Bridge and the magnificent sight waiting for us as we exited the Waldo Tunnel (a.k.a. the Robin Williams Tunnel.) Whenever my grandparents joined us, we'd stop at North Beach's Little Italy to visit relatives. In my early years, I remember them speaking a foreign language with jovial gestures while aromas wafting from the kitchen kept my taste buds eager with anticipation.

As a college student at Cal in the 1970s, I often visited San Francisco, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the City was my home. Whether single or married, employed or in post-grad, holding Giants and Symphony season tickets or a Tennis Club day pass, it was my magical and wide-open playground. I lived in Presidio Heights and the Marina—both within earshot of those beloved foghorns.

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I eventually moved back to my hometown of Napa where, in addition to expanding my interior design business, I was given the unexpected opportunity to write a design column for the Napa Valley Register. Until my retirement in 2021, I returned to San Francisco regularly, often taking clients to furniture showrooms at the Design Center. I'd share memories while driving through neighborhoods or passing by historic buildings. Some stories were colorful, some juicy, and some nostalgic—like ones about a mother and daughter wearing white gloves.

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Petra's Quest was inspired by these memories along with a pilgrimage to my grandparents' village in Tuscany and a lifelong passion for genealogy. It is a story of remembrance, honor, and tribute, bridging past and present in hopes of preserving family heritage for the future.