Reno’s notorious divorce ranches are back in the spotlight. The Nevada Historical Society in Reno will present “What Was Really Going On At Those Nevada Divorce Ranches? Fact & Faction” on May 8, 2024 as part of its popular Writers’ Wednesday series.
Author Sandra McGee, co-author of a richly illustrated divorce ranch memoir with her late husband, Bill McGee, will explore the mystique of this era with Carson City novelist Peggy Wynne Borgman.
Sandra has just released a commemorative edition of The Divorce Seekers, hailed as the “bible of the Nevada divorce ranch era.”
Peggy’s newly released second novel, The Better Half, is a historical thriller set on a Washoe Valley divorce ranch.
Peggy was inspired by Bill McGee’s colorful memoir of his adventures as a young dude wrangler on the exclusive Flying M E Ranch divorce ranch in the Washoe Valley during the late 1940s. His book brings to life the heady atmosphere of the ranch, where blueblooded women from the East spent their six weeks to establish Nevada residency. It includes Bill McGee’s brushes with the legendary Lucius Beebe and a jaunt to the Genoa Bar with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner.
The Better Half also draws on the tragic history of Carson City’s Stewart Indian School, placing its heroine there during the turbulent decades of the 1920s and 1930s. Profits from the book are being donated to The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
The event is set for Wednesday, May 8, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Nevada Historical Society, 1650 N. Virginia St., in Reno. Admission is free. For more information visit NVhistoricalsociety.org or call 775.688.1191. From 5-5:30 pm, there’s a wine/cheese reception and book signing; 5:30-6:30 pm, a presentation and audience Q&A.
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