First published 1999
Red Ray bought a crumbling Victorian house in the Santa Bernita Valley to save his marriage. Instead, he destroyed it with one final spectacular bender. Now he runs Round Rock, a recovery facility built from the wreckage of his old life. His unlikely charges include Lewis Fletcher, a brilliant graduate student whose erratic behavior landed him in treatment against his will. Meanwhile, Libby Daw remains stuck in her trailer months after her husband fled to Los Angeles, unable to escape the valley despite her dreams of leaving. The town itself shapes these struggling residents. Billie Fitzgerald, descended from the original settlers, still acts like she owns everything while hiding her volatile emotions from friends. David Ibañez returns to the place his family worked for generations, discovering his talents and secrets remain tied to this close community he thought he had abandoned. In this small town of fewer than a hundred souls, nestled among citrus groves where locals say nothing goes according to plan, each character fights for peace and balance against their own human weaknesses.
Genres: literary-fiction, addiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption
Setting: Santa Bernita Valley, Round Rock
Period: 21st-century
Hardcover · Random House Value Publishing
Content warnings: addiction, mental-illness