 the autobiography of alice b. toklas is a 1933 book by gertrude stein, written in the guise of an autobiography authored by alice b. toklas, who was her lover. ==summary==  ===before i came to paris=== alice b. toklas, as narrator of the work, says she was born into an affluent family in san francisco. later she met gertrude stein's sister-in-law during the san francisco fires and finally decided to move to paris in 1907. ===my arrival in paris=== alice talks about the important role of helene, gertrude's housemaid, in their household in paris. she mentions preparations for an art exhibition. she discusses picasso and his mistress fernande. the couple breaks up and fernande moves to montparnasse to teach french. alice and gertrude visit her there. ===gertrude stein in paris, 1903-1907=== alice tells of gertrude and her brother leo stein buying paintings by paul cÃ©zanne and henri matisse from ambroise vollard. they subsequently all become friends. she next discusses spending the summer with gertrude in fiesole while picasso goes to spain. back in france, gertrude falls out with guillaume apollinaire. later, picasso has an argument with matisse. ===gertrude stein before she came to paris=== alice tells how gertrude stein was born in allegheny, pennsylvania, then moved to vienna, passy, and finally new york city and california. she attended radcliffe college, where she was taught by william james. she decided to study for a master's degree at johns hopkins university but dropped out because she was bored, then moved to london and was bored there too, returned to america, and eventually settled in paris. ===1907-1914=== alice tells stories about matisse, apollinaire, and many other cubist artists. she recounts holidays in italy and spain with gertrude. finally, they move to england on the eve of the first world war to meet with gertrude's editor, leaving mildred aldrich alone in paris. ===the war=== gertrude and alice begin the war years in england, and then go briefly to france to rescue gertrude's writings. they then live in spain for a while and eventually move back to france. there, they do volunteer work for the american fund for the french wounded driving around france to help the wounded and homeless. by 
1933_books American_LGBT_novels American_biographies Lesbian_novels Works_originally_published_in_The_Atlantic_(magazine)