THOSE PEOPLE BEHIND US
It’s the summer of 2017 in Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices—divisions that change the lives of five neighbors as they search for home and community in a neighborhood where no one can agree who belongs.
Real estate agent Lisa Kensington juggles her job, her shopaholic husband, a mother who knows how to push her buttons, and teenagers with ideas of their own. Ray Gorman, a haunted Vietnam vet, cares for his aging mother. Keith Nelson, an ex-con, lives in his car, parked near his parents’ house. Sixteen-year-old Josh Kowalski works through the shock of his father’s abandonment by slamming on a drum set. Jeannette Larsen, an aerobics teacher numbed by horrific tragedy, turns away from her husband and toward reckless behavior. In the end, they all discover that despite their differences, they are more connected than any of them would have imagined.
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Book Details
Publisher: She Writes Press (October 10, 2023)
Language: English
Paperback: 305 pages
ISBN-10: 1647425654
ISBN-13: 978-1647425654
Item Weight : 14.1 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
“Camarillo has crafted another winner! Those People Behind Us is a beautiful, propulsive masterwork of empathy.”
Author of New York Times bestseller
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
and current release
Saturday Night At The Lakeside Supper Club
"A gripping read that captures the pettiness, complexity, and surprising tenderness of living in a suburban environment."
Author of Girl One and The Wonder State
“Fans of Liane Moriarty will savor the raw suspense and mystery Camarillo has skillfully woven. Juxtaposed against the bright and sunny Southern California sky, this multi-generational tale takes a deep dive into the minds and motivations of a seemingly harmless neighborhood as it strips back each dark and complicated layer, piece by piece.”
USA Today bestselling author
of The Sound of Wings
“Thoughtful and riveting. In Those People Behind Us, Mary Camarillo trains an astute yet empathetic eye on the residents of one Southern California planned community in the year 2017, dissecting the mental and emotional cracks in our foundation at the brink of the Trump era.”
Author of Copy Boy and Tom Boy
“Peyton Place with a twist of Trump.”
Author of Tomorrow They Will Kiss
and Midnight Rhumba
“A fascinating and perceptive read about growth, acceptance, and understanding people different than yourself.”
Author of Spontaneous
and Extraordinary October
“As skillfully as Elizabeth Strout and Susan Straight, Mary Camarillo captures her diverse beach town community with such precision, you feel you are eavesdropping on real people’s lives, with all their dreams and disappointments, faults and frailties. Though Camarillo touches on hot topics such as homelessness, low-income housing, racism, and political differences, she lets her characters express their differing views and leaves it to her readers to draw their own conclusions. What I liked most about this beautifully crafted novel was the ultimate truth woven throughout that despite our differences, most of us are more alike than we are different.”
Author of Luz: A Novel and Josie and Vic
"Those People Behind Us, is author Mary Camarillo’s second book and she has once again written a winner! The plot deals with racism and insecurities in a town that could be anywhere in America. This author’s writing is sharp, and realistic with characters that are so well drawn, you will definitely recognize people you know in them. Those People Behind Us will keep you turning pages in order to find out what will happen in the end and it won't disappoint.”
Author of After Happily Ever After
and The Stories We Cannot Tell
“ . . . . we all need to step back from our prejudices and assumptions, take a deep breath, and realize that we are all in this together . . . . mesmerizing . . . . A worthwhile read with characters who grapple with timely political conundrums.”
“The stakes are high and the ground unstable in the fictional town of Wellington Beach where even a real estate agent’s seemingly innocuous pamphlets are loaded with undercurrents of significance and menace. Yet Camarillo’s novel offers hope, and, because of her facility with characters, I found myself unabashedly rooting for the fallible and suffering Wellington community."
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“The vivid characters that populate Mary Camarillo’s fictional community of Wellington Beach are a testament to the author’s deep knowledge of a very real and fascinating terrain. Their intersecting lives and backstories add a technicolor verisimilitude to her highly engaging new novel.”
Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace,
Love, and Acid to the World and Kill the Messenger
“Camarillo has crafted another winner! Those People Behind Us is a beautiful, propulsive masterwork of empathy.”
Author of New York Times bestseller
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
and current release
Saturday Night At The Lakeside Supper Club
"A gripping read that captures the pettiness, complexity, and surprising tenderness of living in a suburban environment."
Author of Girl One and The Wonder State
“Fans of Liane Moriarty will savor the raw suspense and mystery Camarillo has skillfully woven. Juxtaposed against the bright and sunny Southern California sky, this multi-generational tale takes a deep dive into the minds and motivations of a seemingly harmless neighborhood as it strips back each dark and complicated layer, piece by piece.”
USA Today bestselling author
of The Sound of Wings
“Thoughtful and riveting. In Those People Behind Us, Mary Camarillo trains an astute yet empathetic eye on the residents of one Southern California planned community in the year 2017, dissecting the mental and emotional cracks in our foundation at the brink of the Trump era.”
Author of Copy Boy and Tom Boy
“Peyton Place with a twist of Trump.”
Author of Tomorrow They Will Kiss
and Midnight Rhumba
“A fascinating and perceptive read about growth, acceptance, and understanding people different than yourself.”
Author of Spontaneous
and Extraordinary October
“As skillfully as Elizabeth Strout and Susan Straight, Mary Camarillo captures her diverse beach town community with such precision, you feel you are eavesdropping on real people’s lives, with all their dreams and disappointments, faults and frailties. Though Camarillo touches on hot topics such as homelessness, low-income housing, racism, and political differences, she lets her characters express their differing views and leaves it to her readers to draw their own conclusions. What I liked most about this beautifully crafted novel was the ultimate truth woven throughout that despite our differences, most of us are more alike than we are different.”
Author of Luz: A Novel and Josie and Vic
"Those People Behind Us, is author Mary Camarillo’s second book and she has once again written a winner! The plot deals with racism and insecurities in a town that could be anywhere in America. This author’s writing is sharp, and realistic with characters that are so well drawn, you will definitely recognize people you know in them. Those People Behind Us will keep you turning pages in order to find out what will happen in the end and it won't disappoint.”
Author of After Happily Ever After
and The Stories We Cannot Tell
“ . . . . we all need to step back from our prejudices and assumptions, take a deep breath, and realize that we are all in this together . . . . mesmerizing . . . . A worthwhile read with characters who grapple with timely political conundrums.”
“The stakes are high and the ground unstable in the fictional town of Wellington Beach where even a real estate agent’s seemingly innocuous pamphlets are loaded with undercurrents of significance and menace. Yet Camarillo’s novel offers hope, and, because of her facility with characters, I found myself unabashedly rooting for the fallible and suffering Wellington community."
Those People Behind Us is a thought-provoking novel that will leave readers pondering the power of unity in the face of adversity. Prepare to be captivated by this compelling story. Mary Camarillo should be proud of the new literary masterpiece that is sure to captivate readers around the globe. This novel boasts a cast of well-developed and compelling characters, each with a unique voice. With its heartwarming hometown feel, the story delves into the lives of these characters as they navigate the challenges of real-life problems.
"a layered, moving, thought-provoking, interwoven, three degrees of separation story. The characters are a collection of “others,” people I’d like to leave behind, people I was frustrated with, but ultimately people with attitudes and attributes I recognized (sometimes in myself.)"
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Reader Review
“Mary Camarillo’s new novel, Those People Behind Us is set in 2017, in Wellington Beach, California, a politically charged time and place, but the citizens of the place – flawed, conflicted, mortal – reminded me of the citizens of another time and place, the characters of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Once you eliminate the modern conveniences, both sets of characters are equally bound together by time and place and the loneliness that is at the center of so many American lives.
These people are peculiarly American, particularly Californian and you won’t forget them because you will recognize them. They share your flaws, your sins, your secrets, your mortality. Camarillo has created what is by now a rarity, fully rounded characters that invoke what Flannery O’Connor called “the mystery of personality.” Or as one of her country women put it, “That just goes to show you what some people would do.”
These characters will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book. Like a Wellington Beach sunburn or some grains of sand in an oyster.”
Lou Matthews, author of Shaky Town and LA Breakdown.
Download Mary Camarillo's Press Kit
Includes author bio and related images.
OTHER ACCOLADES FOR THE LOCKHART WOMEN
- One of the Los Angeles Times Book Club’s “Favorite Literary Escapes of 2021.“
- Hollywood Reporter, July 2021, “Rights Available, New Books With Hollywood Appeal.”
- Named a “2021 Debut You Should Add to Your TBR Pile” by Frolic.
- Listed on “2021Your Summer Bucket List” by Frolic.
- Listed on “2021 Under the Rader Selected June Reads for You” by Frolic.
- Listed on “2021 Most Anticipated 2021 Summer Fiction” by SheReads.
- Named “Best New Book to Read in Summer 2021” by SheKnows.
- Named “Book to Read Based on Shows You Binge Watch” by Women.com.
- Listed on “Frolic’s Under the Rader Books for June 2021.“
- Listed as on of “15 New Books to Read on Vacation” by Brit + Co.
Multi-Award-Winning Author
