Our People

Our People is an original collection of eight linked stories examining a young woman's effort to find values to live by in the face of history. The book's protagonist, Ellie Mercer, is a third-generation Californian growing up among the benefits her family has reaped from a prosperous Sacramento farm. Rejecting her family's capital-based values, Ellie begins a search for her runaway brother, Ian. Reversing the iconic American westward migration, Ellie heads east to find Ian, seeking a different kind of gold than the one that brought her family west. This becomes a quest for the truth about her family and herself. Spanning from Ellie's childhood to adulthood, the book also traverses and interrogates myths of the American west and of the American dream, exploring one woman's journey to recover lost treasure and to discover what---if anything---is worth possessing.