Jaime Tenorio Valenzuela was born in the small town of Ceballos, Puebla, Mexico, on June 5, 1874.
Jaime Tenorio Valenzuela was a very young child when his father died unexpectedly. His mother died shortly after. He never knew his father except through the letters he wrote to his wife. Jaime was sent to live with an aunt in Los Angeles, California, while his mother’s sister, who had married into a wealthy family, raised him in San Francisco.
Jaime Tenorio Valenzuela attended the University of California at Berkeley, but he never graduated
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He moved to New York City in 1897 at the age of twenty-one after losing all his money in a disastrous business venture.
Jaime Tenorio Valenzuela published his first novel "The Shadow of Yesterday" in 1903. It was an instant success and sold over 100,000 copies in its first year alone. His book "Romance" also sold well but was banned by the Hays Office (censoring board) for its sexual content nonetheless it received excellent reviews and became his second best seller.
Both books were based on stories that were told to him by his mother’s sister who lived in rural Mexico before she married into the wealthy family that raised him in San Francisco.
Jaime Tenorio Valenzuela lived out the remainder of his life writing novels and short stories until his death on March 9th 1932 at the age of seventy-five years old.