Perris California: A Novel

Abandoned first by her father and then her mother, Tessa grows up with her abusive stepfather and stepbrother. She survives by finding reserves of strength in herself, and by the surprising, transformative love of another teenage girl, Mel, who sees through Tessa''s tough exterior to the vulnerable woman inside.Years on, 27-year-old Tessa, pregnant with her third child and living in a trailer on her mother-in-law''s property, re-encounters the woman she used to love-leading her to question the very foundations of the life she''s built. Filled with violence, tragedy, tenderness, longing and the unvarnished courage of women living in a mostly unseen America, Perris, California is the unforgettable story of Tessa''s journey from trauma to healing, and it introduces us to one of the most indelible female characters since Bone Boatwright in Dorothy Allison''s Bastard Out of Carolina or Ruth Langmore in Ozark.''You and me, we didn''t have it so easy, did we, Mama?'' Tessa blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped at them with her sleeve and nodded some. ''Now that I''ve come to understand how complicated and painful life can be, I don''t hold nothing against you. Not even your leaving. I don''t blame you one bit, because now I believe in my heart you must have been trying your best in your own way. I think mamas are mostly always trying their best. It just looks different depending on the cards they are dealt and the hurt they are holding.''