From Valley Boy:
When they came out of the dustbowl, they carried things on their backs. The things they couldn’t carry they left behind for the thieves and the looters of antiques. When they came out of the dustbowl, there was nowhere to go but west because the fruit was in the West and ranchers needed hands to pick it.
They had hands.
When they came out of the dustbowl, his mother was three years old and she had one pair of shoes and one dress and the dress was sewn from a Gold Medal flour sack.
They came out of the dustbowl into the West to get to the sea, to get to wet land, to get to the oranges, to get to peaches and pears and apricots, to get to grapes and almonds and the cotton.
California was as far West as they could go …
Says Remick: “When you grow up in the Central Valley you meet people who never stray much beyond their home town unless it’s to go next door to a football game. If you’re not the right caste, you learn to work with your hands and you work hard. You wonder if you can ever get out. I wrote Valley Boy in part to remind readers about the Diaspora, the Westward migration, that started in the Dust Bowl. Most people think the Migration ended with World War II, but it didn’t. In Valley Boy, the main characters are third-generation Okies who didn’t make it to the Pacific, got stuck in the dust, and were left behind in the orchards and vineyards doing the gut-busting labor that turns young boys into old men way too soon. I wanted to write about those Okie boys.
From the Publisher:
Valley Boy is available from Amazon.com. The novel is also for sale on the European Amazons and Amazon Japan. The Kindle edition retails for $5.95. Other eBook versions can be purchased on Smashwords and through most major eBook retailers. Wholesale orders can be placed through info@coffeetownpress.com, Baker & Taylor or Ingram. Libraries can also purchase books through Follett Library Resources or Midwest Library Services.
Jack Remick 