People Along the Sand

by Rachel King

It's 1967 in Kalapuya, a town on the Central Oregon Coast, and Jackson Ryder decides to build a second story onto his motel. His wife, Marilyn Ryder, doesn't want to take on more debt for an expansion. Their ongoing dispute prompts Marilyn to leave Jackson and stay with her friend Leah Tolman, a bakery owner and advocate for the Beach Bill, the legislation that will make all Oregon beaches public land. While Marilyn becomes an activist, her adolescent son, Tim, befriends Elliot Yager, an elderly lighthouse keeper who wants the public to stay off his beach.

A novel about the pleasures and limits of solitude for five distinct and deeply human characters, centered around the passing of the Oregon Beach Bill and published in time for the fifty-fifth anniversary of the historic legislation.

Genres: Fiction

292 pages, Paperback

Published November 9, 2021

About the author

Rachel King is the author of two poetry chapbooks, the novel PEOPLE ALONG THE SAND, and the linked collection BRATWURST HAVEN, winner of a 2023 Colorado Book Award. Her short stories have appeared in One Story, North American Review, Green Mountains Review, Northwest Review, and elsewhere. After living and working in several regions of the United States, she has settled in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel by Rachel King merits your time and close attention. Sit with it a while and its deep themes reveal themselves.

On its surface People Along the Sand traces five residents of Kalapuya, a small Oregon Coast town, and how they navigate life in a community that is changing. The backdrop of it all is the ferment of 1967 which in Oregon meant a battle for a law designed to turn all beaches into public property. King evokes this place, these people, and the time with attentive writing.

The book’s description says it is about “the pleasures and limits of solitude,” and it is. But it is more profoundly about relationships: between spouses, between friends, between antagonists, between parents and their children, between people and the land—even between past, present, and future. (One striking element is how well King depicts intergenerational friendships.)

In the end, People Along the Sand is a thoughtful exploration of and meditation on responsibility. What and who are we responsible for? Whether it is fighting for the beach bill or figuring out parenting, characters wrestle with how to translate individual desires and broader needs. Today is a good time to be thinking about these things.

[Heather Frese · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Rachel King’s People Along the Sand, we meet the residents of Kalapuya, Oregon, a small town along the rocky coast. It’s 1967 and the historic Beach Bill is on the cusp of passing. The legislation will make all beaches public land, a cause that’s being fought for by the recently widowed town baker, Leah, and bitterly opposed by the curmudgeonly former lighthouse-keeper, Elliott. Told in omniscient narration, the story also follows the owners of a local beachfront motel, Jackson and Marilyn, who are having marital difficulties, and their son, Tim, who is dealing with the death of a friend in Vietnam. I’ve never been to the Oregon coast, but reading this book makes me feel like I know it intimately. From the tang of salt in the air to the geysers and agates and caves, King perfectly captures the sense of motion and energy that the close presence of the ocean lends a place. Each of the characters in People Along the Sand grapples with turning points in their personal lives that are mirrored in the seismic cultural changes of the world at large. Even so, this book had a lovely, quiet, calming effect when I read that made me want to go back and dip into the characters’ lives once more. Character-driven and brilliant at evoking a sense of place, this is a gem of a book that captures the intertwined lives of a coastal community at a pivotal turning point for them all and the world at large.

[Michelle Schardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like in Robert Frost's poem from which the title comes, "Neither Out Far Nor In Deep", the characters in People Along the Sand turn from the land and look to the sea, all of them for a different reason. But what holds them all together is the very human need to live in community, whether they enjoy it or not. Views on the Vietnam War and the Oregon Beach Bill of the late 60's polarize them, day to day life shows them they need each other. Rachel King treats us to the inside scenario of five characters who struggle, then learn how to accept that we really are in this life together. The backdrop of the Oregon coast is a treat for those of us who live here, but holds universal appeal to those who do not.

I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for an unbiased opinion. It is a risky endeavor, to write a review for someone you know, but I thoroughly enjoyed this story and gobbled it up in just a few days. A true delight to read in the summer, but I will read it again when the weather turns gray and stormy. And I will buy copies for friends when it does come out.

[Mary Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

People Along the Sandby Rachel King is exactly what the summary on the back cover states: a story about people who live in a town on the Central Oregon Coast. It includes bits of information about the Oregon Beach Bill, but no where near as much as I expected.

Most of the story is about the conflict between Jackson Ryder and his wife Marilyn after he decides to build a second story on his motel, the way Leah Tolman, a bakery owner, figures out how to move forward after the death of her husband; and how elderly lighthouse keeper Elliot Yager befriends the Jackson’s adolescent son and decides what to do with
his own property.

Perhaps I didn’t find the story compelling because I kept waiting for more about the Beach Bill. Regardless, I am disappointed and do not recommend this book.

[Kate Belt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I look forward to more by this author. This is a book strongly set in place (Oregon Coast) and time (Viet Nam era), a slice of life story including the history of making Oregon beaches public.  It’s well written and all of the characters are relatable, but there was one loose end with a character referred to multiple times who had no apparent role.

[June]

Only read at the suggestion of a person on FAcebook. Okay, but not great

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Rachel’s characters and the setting and stories along the Oregon coast and Salem. My parents grew up in Oregon in the 60s, and the Beach Bill was established history by the time I was born, so I relished the new perspectives on our history. The characters stayed with me. Wish I could pop into Leah’s for a treat or Sandy’s for a treasure.