Guide to Napa Valley sites from Le Guin's "Always Coming Home"?

Question

Does anyone know of a guide relating places in the novel Always Coming Home to sites in present day Napa Valley? Geographic coordinates would be great, or whatever.

For instance, where is Sinshan, the main town for the action of the first part of the book?

My reason for asking is a little crazy, but maybe fun: This book has been super important to my mom, so I thought a combined Napa Valley wine tasting/Ursula K. Le Guin tour would be, well, awesome.

Link to book info: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/ACH/Index.html

Answer 1

The Na valley is indeed the Napa Valley and some places of note are listed below. Compare satellite imagery for the locations with the Nine towns of the River map of the Valley (available here, but unreadable: https://www.ursulakleguin.com/kesh-maps – you can find it on page 374, at least in in my edition).

• Telína: A corruption of St. Helena https://goo.gl/maps/iidv2fukJSZu7AtX7
• Kastóha: A corruption of Calistoga. This is where you find geysers and hot-springs (several spas available after a hard days wine tasting) https://goo.gl/maps/4xtzJrXkr3GwMtiYA
• Ounmalin: Just north of Yountville (names maybe related). If you look at satellite imagery or terrain map and compare with the Nine towns map, you can identify the hills where the town is situated: https://goo.gl/maps/ZUwUFsF5oxnQP1i48

You can probably work out more places yourself, and I don't want to rob you of the fun, but I'll give one more:

• Sinshan: This is probably the most important place in the book, and was chosen for a good reason: This is where Le Guin's family homestead, nicknamed "Kishamesh" (possible origin of "Kesh") is situated. I don't want to point out their farm here for privacy reasons (you can probably find it if you like), but I can show where Sinshan is. The name is a corruption of St. John, named after Mount St. John, which rises to the south of Sinshan. You can find the town here: https://goo.gl/maps/MDUeNiw1ecyGGY8v5 There are two maps of Sinshan in the book (pages 178 and 182 in my edition). The first is probably the easiest to navigate by, though note that it has SW up! It is easier to compare it with a terrain map, rather than a satellite map https://goo.gl/maps/5NVoDHPR1LxHmS4t6 The hill between Whitehall Ln. and S. Whitehall Ln. is called Adobe Hill in the book, and the creek running North to South along it is Sinshan Creek, whereas the creek running along Whitehall Ln. is called Hard Canyon Creek in the book.

I hope this gives you something to look forward to when restrictions are lifted! I am happy to help with further details if you require, but as I write above, I don't want to rob you of the entire adventure of finding things out yourself. And if you do find something interesting, then please share!