First published 2022
Rocky Rhodes has spent years defending his Three Chairs ranch from the LA Water Corporation's advances into the California desert. After his wife Lou dies of polio, Rocky struggles to hold his family together while raising twins Stryker and Sunny. The attack on Pearl Harbor brings devastating news about Stryker's deployment. Soon after, Schiff arrives from the Department of Interior with orders to build a Japanese internment camp on land adjacent to Rocky's property. As Schiff witnesses the reality of his assignment, his faith in America begins to crack. He finds himself drawn to Sunny Rhodes, despite their opposing worldviews. The war transforms everyone it touches: Rocky mourns his losses while fighting to protect what remains of his life's work, Schiff questions everything he believed about his country, and the Rhodes family faces changes that will reshape their understanding of home and belonging. Set against the backdrop of wartime California, the story weaves together the experiences of ranchers, government officials, water rights activists, and Japanese American internees whose lives intersect during one of America's most troubling chapters.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: California, Three Chairs Ranch, LA Water Corporation
Period: World War II, Pearl Harbor
544 pages · Kindle Edition · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: war