Mary Camarillo is a storyteller whose work explores the nuances of everyday life with a keen observational eye. She is drawn to themes of personal journeys and the quiet determination that shapes our paths. Her prose is characterized by its clarity and relatable voice, inviting readers into a world that feels both familiar and profound. Camarillo's dedication to her craft is evident in the thoughtful construction of her narratives.
Beneath the affluent veneer of a Southern California housing tract, five neighbors (a realtor, an aerobics teacher, an ex-con, a Vietnam vet, and a teenage boy) confront death, betrayal, financial decline, loneliness, and encroaching fascism. Set in the politically tumultuous summer of 2017, each character searches for home and community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs.
Brenda Lockhart’s family has been living well beyond their means for too long when Brenda’s husband leaves them—for an older and less attractive woman than Brenda, no less. Brenda’s never worked outside the home, and the family’s economic situation quickly declines. Oldest daughter Peggy is certain she’s heading off to a university, until her father offers her a job sorting mail while she attends community college instead. Younger daughter Allison, a high school senior, can’t believe her luck that California golden boy Kevin has fallen in love with her. Meanwhile, the chatter about the O. J. Simpson murder investigations is always on in the background, a media frenzy that underscores domestic violence against women and race and class divisions in Southern California. Brenda, increasingly obsessed with the case, is convinced O. J. is innocent and has been framed by the LAPD. Both daughters are more interested in their own lives, until Peggy starts noticing bruises Allison can’t explain. For a while, it feels to everyone as if the family is falling apart; but in the end, they all come together again in unexpected ways.