Pescadero: a Novel

by Hollis Brady

AMONG THE BEST INDIE LITERARY FICTION 2024 -- Kirkus Reviews
NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS - Finalist
"A quietly moving novel ... raw and impactful." -- The BookLife Prize
"A powerful story of dislocation." -- Publishers Weekly
"Impressively original, exceptionally compelling ..." -- Midwest Book Review
"Special moments of humanness that feel very tender." -- Writer's Digest
"Storytelling at its finest." -- Independent Book Publishers Assn, Awards Judge


What compels someone to attempt to cross a brutal and unforgiving desert in search of a better life?

In this deeply moving novel, a Midwest girl bears witness to—and then becomes entangled in—the struggles of two undocumented brothers caught on opposite sides of the US/Mexico border.

Fourteen-year-old Hilde, raised on a family farm in Wisconsin, is dragged to the northern California coastal town of Pescadero by a mother fleeing a bad marriage.

But Pescadero is worlds away from the conservative Midwest, and Hilde finds herself adrift in a community where all the attitudes she absorbed growing up seem oddly off-key.

When her mother hires an undocumented farmworker to tend the goat farm the family is trying to revive, Hilde strikes up an unlikely friendship with him and learns of his plan to bring his brother across the Border. But the brother's journey turns calamitous, and Hilde soon becomes engulfed in its harrowing aftermath.

Genres: Fiction

274 pages, Paperback

Published April 9, 2024

About the author

I BELIEVE in the power of story. As a developmental editor and former director of the Stanford Publishing Courses, I’ve spent a lifetime digging out, poring over, and working with stories—the best of which have profoundly touched me and changed my worldview. Such stories—powerful, evocative and absorbing—have been instrumental in motivating me to finish my own novel Pescadero.

Pescadero is a work of fiction. The characters and story arc are imagined, but the descriptions of what today’s migrants experience as they attempt to cross America’s southern border are largely true.

The details in this novel have been shared with me personally during my experiences with undocumented migrants and those who support them at the border in Juarez, Nogales, and San Ysidro; and in Pescadero, California. I’ve listened to many disturbing stories, walked desert paths, accompanied asylum seekers to court, and interviewed those charged with detaining and deporting migrants, all while researching this book.

Take a look at the gallery of photos taken during my work on the border (https://www.pescaderonovel.com/gallery/ ), details of which have made their way into this story.

Reviews

[Phylicia Joannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally reviewed on Reedsy, I received an ARC of Pescadero by Hollis Bradley.

Pescadero is a harrowing tale weaving together the lives of two migrant brothers and a teenage girl adrift in her family.

Hilde begins this journey with her mother and brother as they move away from their family home, and Hilde’s father, to the coastal town of Pescadero, California. Hilde is timid and unsure of herself, and we watch her grow, little by little, as she takes in the unfamiliar ways and people around her.
This growth is subtle enough to miss, as Hilde’s narrative is often interrupted by the narratives of the brothers, Gabe and Joaquin. The story is sometimes gruesome in its details of Joaquin’s journey from Mexico to California, a sharp contrast to Hilde’s softer, calmer portions.

Hilde is relatable but lacks presence in her own story. She takes time to reflect on new ideas and sits often with her feelings, weighing the words and actions of those closest to her against her own thoughts. Her needs are mostly internal, but those needs are often muted and easily forgotten. She observes and takes everything in, but often resists reacting and responding. She is nearly invisible for most of the story, and perhaps that’s on purpose, because her greatest needs are to be seen and heard. Her character isn’t flashy, but it is a spot on representation of the voiceless. Her gumption comes in waves and quickly recedes - or concedes to the loudest voice.

Consequently, I found the two brothers more compelling and felt as if their story overshadowed hers. I was drawn to their desperation – to be reunited, to carve a better life for themselves, to risk everything they have for a chance at success. Their story served as a unique window into the hardships and humanity of those crossing the southern borders of the US.

The two narratives felt largely divorced from each other, and the flow suffered for it, but it did have a satisfying end. Hilde is not the same girl we started with, and that is the heart of any coming of age story.

Pescadero carries weight, is a memorable story, and would be appealing to contemplative readers and lovers of literary fiction. The chapters are short (with titles, no less!) and the reading is easy.

I’d recommend with a few disclaimers. There is a fair bit of strong language, and some accounts of violence are descriptive enough to be disturbing.

[Patricia Wetmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this remarkably authentic and eerily poetic novel, the author delivers a deeply moving account of the arduous journey made by migrants crossing the border from Mexico into Texas. Told through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl, the story offers a fresh, innocent, and heartbreakingly clear lens on a crisis that is too often reduced to headlines and statistics.

From the first page, the novel immerses readers in a stark and visceral landscape—dust-choked paths, blistering heat, the quiet terror of being hunted by forces you can’t see. But amidst the peril, the migrants’ stories shine with humanity. The faceless individuals we often see in the background of news reports are brought into sharp focus—people with histories, humor, and tragic tales of loss that linger long after the final page.

Encounters with border patrol agents are nuanced, portrayed as a mixture of compassion and indifference. Some officers offer water and words of caution, while others turn away, unmoved. The book never preaches, but instead presents these moments with a disquieting realism that speaks volumes about the complexity of the crisis.

What makes this story stand out is the way it captures both the innocent perspective of a young girl caught in circumstances far beyond her control, and the raw desperation of migrants seeking something better—freedom, safety, a future. It's a story that does not flinch from the harsh realities, but still manages to hold space for hope.

This novel is more than just a journey across a border. It is a journey into empathy, a plea to see the people behind the headlines, and a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit. A must-read.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hollis Brady’s novel Pescadero covers a wide range of emotional depths, comparing the coming-apart of a Midwestern family who moves west to California, to the stresses of migrants who no longer have a place they can call home. The young girl Hilde, protagonist of the story, is on the cusp of growing up and has always relied on her older brother, and the stability of the nuclear family to provide a base. In Pescadero, California, where the mother and two children are trying to start a business raising goats and producing gourmet cheese, the three of them pull against each other, the children trying to survive a suddenly manic mother, and the siblings choosing different ways to become more independent. Their hired hand, who is undocumented, is a valuable worker for their enterprise and befriends Hilde, but is at the same time consumed with anxiety trying to send his younger brother enough money to cross the border from Mexico. This brother’s journey is harrowing, involving two crossings (one overland in an unforgiving Arizonan desert) as well as time spent in detention, and real-life death threats from an evil coyote. The story is told in interlapping narratives, both engaging stories themselves, and mesh together at the end as the brother arrives, and the girl’s family situation is also quickly unravelling. A brilliant novel for this author’s debut.

[Elise Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pescadero is a gripping story of survival in the face of nearly insurmountable odds. The author's longstanding activism in border issues makes her highly qualified to write a novel about two undocumented brothers (Gabe and Joaquin) who live on opposite sides of the US/Mexico border. Gabe works on a goat farm near Pescadero on the California coast, where a woman and her two teenagers (Hilde and Ethan) are struggling to make ends meet.

Determined to join Gabe in Pescadero, Joaquin undertakes a grueling journey through the desert of northern Mexico, where his fellow travelers succumb to intense heat, thirst, and starvation before they reach the border. Caught by the Border Patrol, Joaquin is jailed and faces felony charges and eventual deportation. Will he ever find a way to join Gabe in Pescadero? Meanwhile, Gabe, Hilde and Ethan face problems of their own, when a devastating flood virtually destroys the goat farm.

The two separate plots gradually merge toward the end of the story, reaching a satisfying ending filled with hope for the future. If you enjoy well-researched novels with memorable characters, immersive settings, very limited profanity, and no steamy romantic scenes, don't miss Pescadero! I hope to read future novels by this very talented author.

[William Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brady brought me to tears more than once in her searing story of the plight of undocumented farm workers. She takes no political side, but puts a human face on the torment of people caught up in a rigid and unforgiving system.

Janine is running from a broken marriage and brings her reluctant adolescents, Hilde and Ethan, with her to the California town of Pescadero, where she hopes to support her family by making cheese from the milk of the goats on her small farm. But she cannot manage the farm by herself and hires two migrant brothers to help. The story of how those men got from Mexico to California is at once harrowing and heart-breaking. It has changed the way I hear the news about our mass deportations.

The writing is lean and crisp, the story engaging. I confess, the ending did feel somewhat forced to me, but the book remains an important one that I highly recommend. I only wish I could make it mandatory reading for everyone who sits in our Congress.

[Edie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful and important story that takes a fresh, maybe unexpected, and very personal look at immigration—alongside family dynamics, rural life, and coming of age. Strong characters, well written, a quick and compelling read.

[Carolyn Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend loaned this book to me, and I think it's more appropriate as a young adult novel. A family from the Midwest trying to raise goats and migrant workers. If someone doesn't know much about the dangerous migrant journey across the border, this book provides pretty good description.

[Kate Stoczanyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read to help a friend of a friend. This book was interesting. It was more about a character trying to join his brother in the US from Mexico than the 14-year old girl (who read like she was 9-10). I think this book either needed to be about Joaquin or Hilde.

[Carol Holder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting historical story

A well written story but a bit sad. Showing how family can hold together and yet fall apart. Today we still see people trying to cross over from Mexico into the US and the hard ship they face but family hold together. Good story line.

[Caridad Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely my favorite book of the year so far. unfortunately it left me too emotionally raw to leave a proper review, but everyone– please grab a copy!

[Anita Rohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilde

A truly struggling life filled with fear and loneliness two people fr different places just struggling against a crazy world to survive. An emotional read.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and engaging read.

[Kj · Rating 5 out of 5]

The central themes of what makes a family and displacement were finely drawn. The characters of Hilde and Nan were very likable. Local Bay Area author