Perris, California

PROLOGUE

1992

Angie

It was sometime in the middle of the night when Angie woke to a sharp pain in her chest. She put a hand there. She was waiting to see if it would pass when she heard a tapping on her bedroom window. She moved her hand from her chest and shook Buck s shoulder. The tapping got louder. Buck, Angie whispered. Buck,
wake up.
There was the sound of something snapping underfoot outside, and Buck was on his feet. He picked up the flashlight on his night- stand and took his rifle out from under the bed. He and Angie went to the window. He had the light and rifle in hand and ready when he gave the nod to Angie, signaling her to pull back the curtain.
Tessa, Henry s girl, was standing there squinting into the light. The side of her face was blown out so bad that the skin was pulledtaut across the bridge of her nose and the eye on that side was shiny-wet and pinched shut.
Jesus, Angie breathed. She and Buck ran outside to her. The poor thing was leaning up against the house to keep from falling over. She didn t have shoes on, and her feet were torn up and bleed- ing. She was bent and holding one arm in close with the other. Buck stayed froze to the earth a yard away from the girl while Angie walked to her. Tessa was taking in quick, shallow breaths. Her open eye was big and showing all its white. Angie had seen that same look once before in her neighbor s colt when it was pinned down and straining against four grown men; its leg was broken in three places after a bad jump, and there wasn t no coming back from that. Angie walked up to Tessa slow and steady like she d done with the horse before she put a bullet between its eyes.
Easy, baby, she said. Tessa let a sharp exhale out her nose. It s alright now, honey. You re alright. She looked busted up even worse up close. Worse than any of her boys or Buck had ever been after any schoolyard scrap or bar fight. Angie didn t let her face show the sick

Rachel Stark grew up in Perris, California. She received her bachelor’s degree in creative writing from University of California, Riverside, and her master’s degree in creative writing at University of California, Davis. She currently resides in southern Colorado where she writes, runs mountain trails, and teaches yoga.

Advance praise for Perris, California

An emotionally charged portrait of two women s painful family histories and their uneasy reunion in California s Inland Empire . . . Fans of Dorothy Allison or Pam Houston ought to seek this out. Publishers Weekly

An extraordinary debut that insists that we can and must mend each other. Kirkus (starred review)
 
Some stories grab you, shake you to the core, and never let you go, demanding you to stare into the heart of human depravity and resilience. Other stories capture you by stealth, quiet beauty unfolding in ordinary moments: a conversation round a table, the unexpected smile of a neighbor, the wind on your face as you run. Harrowing, evocative, and deeply moving, Perris, California does both. Rachel Stark reminds us that in the smallest acts of kindness center the most enormous acts of love. This is a remarkable novel of human beings fully being where what we do to each other sits side by side with what we do for each other. Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress
 
Perris, California is a remarkable, audacious, and truly original debut. Stark s characters are incandescent in their fierce desire not just for survival but for love and redemption. This novel will live alongside classics of young womanhood by Kaye Gibbons, Helena Maria Viramontes, Maya Angelou, and yes, Dorothy Allison. Susan Straight, author of bestsellers Mecca and In the Country of Women
 
Rachel Stark s beautiful debut novel is a gripping portrayal of generational trauma suffered by women living in rural poverty. But this heartbreaking story is ultimately one of healing and hope as she reminds us of our capacity for forgiveness and understanding. Tracey Lange, author of We Are the Brennans

Perris, California is a glorious debut from the magnificent Rachel Stark who writes from the soul when she is not writing from the heart. This is a novel set in the