follow two Louisiana families over the course of several generations. These novels established Bristow as a popular writer of historical fiction. Bristow's fame grew, and Manning also enjoyed rising popularity as a director and producer. They befriended Joe Pasternak, Ray Bradbury, Irving Stone, and scriptwriters Pauline and Leo Townsend. Bristow's next hit was Jubilee Trail (1950) which she wrote over seven years. The novel is set against the backdrop of westward expansion in the 1840s. The protagonist Garnet Hale joins a wagon train bound for California, and the novel offers a fictionalized account of the early Santa Fe trail pioneers. Jubilee Trail was on several bestseller lists for months. A film version, which premiered at the Saenger Theater on Canal Street in New Orleans, was also successful. By 1950, the couple lived in the San Fernando Valley. There, Bristow wrote Celia Garth (1959). She continued to write novels and articles for magazines until her death in 1980. Health Bristow drank alcohol frequently and at times to excess, and smoked cigarettes. She also followed a careful regimen of one hour's daily exercise spent walking, swimming, or bicycling. Bristow stood 5 feet 4 inches tall. Bristow had plastic surgery in 1937 to affix her ears more closely to her head and had her lashes and eyebrows dyed regularly. In 1946, Bristow's doctor advised her to stop smoking, and recommended a tonsillectomy. Bristow stopped smoking briefly, but it was not permanent. Manning died in 1965 after illness and depression. In 1980, Bristow was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died on August 17, 1980. Treatment of race and slavery in work Bristow's historical novels, set in the southern United States, included slavery and racial discrimination. According to critics, Bristow took no position on the issue of slavery; Billie Theriot wrote that Bristow did "not deny atrocities," like the sexual exploitation of slaves, and wove the existence of such atrocities into her stories. Legacy Bristow was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1989. Her archives are held in the University Library at California State University, Northridge. Bibliography The Alien, and Other Poems (1926) The Invisible Host (1930), with Bruce Manning, later republished as The Ninth Guest The Gutenberg Murders (1931), with Bruce Manning The Mardi Gras Murders (1932), with Bruce Manning Two and Two Make Twenty-two (1932), with Bruce Manning "Plantation Trilogy": Deep Summer (1937), The Handsome Road (1938), This Side of