In This Land of Plenty

by Mary Smathers

Overview

IPPY Award Winner! Best Regional Fiction--E-book, Bronze, from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2021

 

 Selected as a Shelf Unbound 2020 Best Indie Top 100 Notable Book

 

"...engaging story that inserts aspects of real-life West Coast history into these parallel narratives. ...the novel ultimately delivers a stirring plot." --Kirkus Reviews

 

"…an invitation to not just accept but cherish the value and beauty of diversity. In this ambitious work, Smathers imparts the wisdom of studying the past in order to move more fully and sincerely into the future."  —Publishers Weekly BookLife Review

 

"…truly a treat for the mind." —Readers' Favorite Five Star Review

When Nicole discovers through DNA reports that her ancestry is far different from the white, northern European background she thought was hers, she enlists the help of her great grandmother to investigate their roots despite protests from her father. The search takes Nicole and Great Gram into the attic of their historic San Francisco Victorian where the family's true history unfolds. Slowly the two women unravel the mysteries of their 250-year family tree, from California's native inhabitants and its earliest European colonizers through the generations to the Gold Rush. In This Land of Plenty is a meticulously researched and beautifully written historical fiction family saga that introduces a diverse cast of characters and the complex social issues that populate California's rich history while drawing a direct line to today's residents.

"In This Land of Plenty captures the complex dynamics of family, exploration and exploitation, and the necessary accommodation to circumstances without submission. Extraordinary accomplishment by the author." —Diana Y. Paul, Award-winning author, Things Unsaid


Fans of historical fiction will fall in love with this novel's:

*Strong research and vivid depictions of historic California

*Inspiration from the original Spanish soldiers on the Portola expedition to explore and settle Alta California

*Connections to the native Ohlone people and other tribes who populated the area for thousands of years, and to the De Anza settlers who walked eighteen hundred miles from Sinaloa to the San Francisco Bay

*Strong characters, and many women, who are both relatable and fascinating

*Emphasis on the importance of family


In This Land of Plenty is already popular with book clubs:

 

"As a Mexican American woman aware of histories of the colonization of our indigenous and Mexican lands, I was eager to read In This Land of Plenty. I was thoroughly captivated by this book and couldn't put it down. It is embedded in a historical context that is not whitewashed, but instead meticulously researched, respectfully describing the interdependent colonial relationships and interactions between the Spanish explorers, missionary priests, and indigenous peoples. The author is to be commended for the respectful portrayal of the Ohlone people, their lands, family relations, and especially different forms of their resistance to colonization through key characters." --Elena Flores, Rock Steady Boxing Book Club, San Francisco, California

 

"This historical novel prompts lively discussion because of its many layers and cultural ironies. Our Californian members loved this perspective on their homeland."

--Sherry Hemingway, Morgan Hill Book Club, Morgan Hill, California

 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165311161
Publisher:	Mary Smathers
Publication date:	01/21/2021
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Mary Smathers grew up in Los Altos, California and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Latin American Studies. She earned a Master's degree in Education and another MA in Educational Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. From 1983 to 2013, she worked in public schools throughout California as a high school teacher, administrator, teacher trainer, grant writer and educational entrepreneur, helping to found three education companies and a public charter school. Since that time, she has focused on writing, reporting for a bilingual, regional Costa Rican newspaper and publishing her first work of fiction, Fertile Soil: Stories of the California Dream, in 2016. In This Land of Plenty, her debut novel, will be released in summer, 2020. She divides her time between California's Central Coast and the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, where she is at work chronicling the stories of subsequent generations in the Brennan/Castro family tree of In This Land of Plenty and a children's book series featuring tropical and jungle animals.

Table of Contents

Family Tree

Maps

The Sacred Expedition

The De Anza Expedition

California Presidios and Missions Along the El Camino Real

Nicole's Central and Northern California

Family Mysteries

Great Gram and the Historic House

The Ghost

The Sacred Expedition

The Great Bay

A Soldier for the Californias

The Village

Captives

Sholeta

Replaced

The Little Adobe House

The Maid

From Hummingbird to Coyote

The Crusader

Changes in the Little Adobe

The Babies

Kidnapped

The Wife

The Family

Rancho Castro

The Lone Survivor

Return to the Forest

A Ranching Woman

Fandango

Captured Again

Family Trust

Los Californios

Rebels

Abuelo's Secrets

The Family Trade

Juanita

The Foreigner

Love and Sin

Banished

Discoveries

The Warrior

Debts

Return to the Old Victorian

Joaquín

Departures

Family Reunion

Endnote for the Reader

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"Smathers' novel offers a nuanced and appreciative illustration of a complicated past, threaded through with hope for unity and understanding. A rewarding and enriching read." --Historical Novel Society Quarterly Magazine review, February, 2021

"In this epic tale, Mary Smathers captures the grand sweep of California history from the arrival of the Spanish to 21st-century Silicon Valley through the bloodline of a single family. Secrets interweave with ambition, passion, betrayal, and upheaval as we follow the trail of Spanish, Franciscan, Mexican, and Californio settlement of a land that housed native peoples for thousands of years. Who are the saints, who the sinners, and the question of how we repair ourselves pulses throughout this story. You'll ache for some of these people, loathe others, and be left with much to ponder on the complexities of love, culture, and family. And then you'll want to read a sequel." --Larry Habegger, Executive Editor, Travelers' Tales

"Great story! Mary Smathers ties the different California eras and different lives together beautifully, and her storytelling brilliantly brings to life periods of California history that most of us are only fairly familiar with. We all visit the California Missions, and we know some of the good and bad behind the missions, but her tales go so much deeper. The timing of her book is perfect, as we are living in the midst of a time when we are more ready than ever to face some of our shameful history. Ms. Smathers' research and writing captivated me, I found myself caring for several of the characters, and it was impossible for me to put her book down." --Dr. Mike Matthews, Superintendent, Manhattan Beach Unified School District, former AP US History teacher

"Mary Smathers' first novel In This Land of Plenty is a bell ringer. Smathers weaves together a vibrant story of California over 250 years with Spanish settlers, Native Americans, and late arriving Anglos. Memorable characters in each culture tell their unforgettable and entwined stories. If you like historical novels with strong plot lines that have both flash-backs and flash-forwards connecting the past to the present, this debut novel is for you." --Dr. Larry Cuban, Emeritus Professor of Education, Stanford University

"An engaging plot following families over generations is woven into a historical journey of the California clash between original Spanish settlers and native indigenous peoples. You will learn a lot of history, and deeply connect with some dynamic characters." --Dr. Michael Kirst, Emeritus Professor of Education and Business, Stanford University, former President, CA State Board of Education

"I can't think of a better way to learn history than through such a readable and well-researched story populated with juicy characters set into a well-paced plot. Smathers knows history well and tells historical stories well. She also shows how, despite huge differences in our backgrounds, we are all part of the same story. I can't wait for her second novel!" --Dr. Christine Sleeter, Professor Emerita, Multi-Cultural Education, Cal State University, Monterey Bay

From the Publisher

2021-05-26
A multigenerational saga that charts a family’s journey to the New World.

In 2018, Nicole Sinclair, a college graduate who’s grieving for her recently deceased mother, is living on her father’s ranch in California. Determined to figure out if her mom’s death was preventable, Nicole takes a DNA test whose results belie the predominantly Englishheritage that her parents previously claimed. Her cantankerous father gives her no answers, as their mutual grief has only made their relationship more contentious. He does, however, ask her to help her great-grandmother at her San Francisco home and also convince her to sell it. Nicole sees this as an opportunity to get more information about her family. Smathers, the author of Fertile Soil (2016), juxtaposes Nicole’s discoveries with chapters told from the perspectives of her ancestors. These are set in the 1700s and 1800s and focus on Diego Castro Cardona, an ambitious Spanish soldier who joins an expedition to California; and Tar, a young Native American girl who’s taken captive at a California mission. The author delivers an often engaging story that inserts aspects of real-life West Coast history into these parallel narratives. The scope of the plot is admirable, and Tar’s story is particularly compelling, as her feelings for a colonizer conflict with her anger at the destruction and assimilation of her people. However, the dialogue is often long-winded; indeed, it often feels as if characters are simply making speeches at one another. Sometimes it feels particularly unnatural and stilted, as when Diego meets a young Indigenous person: “Listen, young man. You must be, what, nineteen? Here’s the way it’s gonna be. I’ll let you go. But you don’t say a word to your comrades back at camp. Just pack them up, tell them you saw too big a contingent to fight. Whatever, make it up. Head east, quietly, now. Back to the big valley. At first light, I’ll lead my men west. But I’ll search your camp here first so you better be gone. Understand?” Yet, despite this, the novel ultimately delivers a stirring plot.

An often compelling, if flawed, tale of a family discovering their roots.

Kirkus Reviews