Hiding in history

Thoughts on what changes, what doesn't and a new novel by Désirée Zamorano

Dec 07, 2024

Before we begin…

What books have you been reaching for as the year closes out? And since it's almost the end of the year (not trying to rush it along or anything), what are the 3 to 5 books you are most glad you read in 2024? I’m planning to add everyone’s favorites to the annual list we update every year on bookshop.org.

History - what changes and what doesn’t

For the past several months, I’ve been reading the novels of Charles Dickens almost exclusively. I recently took a break to read Dispossessed, the latest novel by Désirée Zamorano. At first, I expected to be jarred by the sudden transition from Dickens’ London to Los Angeles of the 1930s and beyond. Instead, I found the landscape of human behavior depicted in both worlds unsettlingly familiar.

In Dispossessed, we are brought inside the experience of a very young boy who is separated from his family in the 1930s as hundreds of thousands US citizens and Mexican nationals are expelled from America. Manuel is too young to understand what is happening. All he knows is that his parents disappear, then his sister. He finds himself with a loving woman, Amparo, an American citizen of Mexican descent, who is one of the many residents of Chavez Ravine which was later cleared of all residents to make way for Dodger’s Stadium. We follow Manuel from boyhood to manhood and, as we follow, we come to understand in a very visceral sense, how that early separation and the subsequent loss of the only home he knew shaped so much of what followed.

In some ways, Zamorano’s story is not such a leap from a Dickens novel. As with David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, or Esther Summerson of Bleak House, the protagonist is a child who is at the mercy of the adults and forces around him. There are the rich and the poor, the privileged and powerless. There are kind, intelligent, wise, hard-working people in all these groups side by side with those who greedy, narrow-thinking, selfish, or cruel. Laughter, absurdity, love, beauty, death, loss, life – are woven throughout the novels of Dickens and Zamorano. Both are strongly rooted in place. Just as Dickens makes us see, smell, hear, feel the dank, sooty, and dark London he knew, Zamorano plunges us into the rich scents, dusty roads, prickly cacti, and warm community of Chavez Ravine and, later, the rapidly changing ports and coast of Southern California.

Dickens, though, wrote contemporary novels that showed any reader who cared to look the London they inhabited and their role in making it what it was. Zamorano’s novel is historical fiction and shows us a piece of history that was left out of most history texts used to teach over the years. It was a piece of history that found its echo in the family separations that began in 2017, grew in 2018 and continue to reverberate.

Dispossessed is, in the end, a story of enormous resilience threaded with joy as well as loss. Zamorano’s prose engages immediately and her ability to give us the world through the experience of a child as he grows more aware year by year is riveting. Stripped of the family he was born to, Manuel cherishes the family he finds and, later, creates himself.

There is no denying, however, that this novel is also a mirror, much like the one Dickens held up to his readers over 150 years ago. In exposing what had been hidden from the history books, Zamorano reveals that while much has changed in the landscape and our times, human nature — the good, bad, ugly — remains very much the same.

Update: since publishing this post, I’ve come across this piece by Natalia Molina whose family was shaped by the separations of the 1930s. There was also the very-recently released documentary Separated. Both are reminders that our history is never far behind us.

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A bit about Désirée Zamorano

In addition to Dispossessed, Los Angeles native Désirée Zamorano is the author of the groundbreaking, family saga, historical fiction novel DISPOSSESSED, as well as the highly acclaimed literary novel, The Amado Women (loved this book!), which will be re-released in 2025. An award-winning and Pushcart prize nominee short story writer, her work is often an exploration of issues where cultures collide and connect. The University of Nevada will publish a collection of her stories in 2026, while a selection of her work can be found in Alta, The Kenyon Review Online and Akashic’s South Central Noir. “Caperucita Roja” was chosen as a distinguished short story in Best of American Mystery and Suspense, 2022. She is the Senior Fiction editor at Silk Road Review. Learn more about her and her writing on her website. You can also follow her on Instagram.

And now…Making the invisible visible: Q & A with Desiree Zamorano

Spark. You began working on this novel in 2018, a few months before the U.S. government began to separate children from their families at the southern border. In your Q&A with Laura Lippman, you mentioned that you’d wanted your book to be relevant but “not this relevant.” Given recent events, what would you say to a prospective reader about the relevance of Dispossessed? How can understanding history here in this country help a reader better understand this moment?

D.Z. I began writing this novel because for years I had been teaching hidden American histories. Among other topics, semester after semester I taught students about the mass expulsion of Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals in the 1930s. A conservative estimate says 400,000 US CITIZENS were pushed out of the country, expatriated.

That Stephen Miller can propose ripping 20 million lives out of the fabric of this country means to me he knows this history.He knows there were no long term consequences, or damage to the US government for abandoning US born citizens and pushing them out of the country-of using Mexican nationals as a scapegoat for the Depression.. Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t taught an honest version of our shameful past and are unaware that not only has this been done before, on a smaller scale, but they are also unaware of the depth of trauma our country created.

I deeply feel the only way we can build a better America, a country that lives up to our ideals, is to recognize and acknowledge our actual past, not the fairy tales most of us have been fed.

Spark. Who did you write this book for? Was / is there a reader in your mind’s eye as you wrote this story? How did the idea of your target reader impact how you approached the story, if at all? Who do you hope reads this book?

D.Z. I really wrote this novel for my college students. Although, realistically, they are already overburdened with reading assignments!

My writing goal is always to RE-present my demographic. As a Mexican American, I am so tired of the paucity of portrayals of us as multi-layered, real human beings. I write to show the world our complexity, our flaws, our dignity.

I also wrote it for those of us who have no idea of our history (and there are many!) Everything in my novel is historically factual. I intertwined our history with the life of one boy, Manuel, who grows into a man. My hope is that the reader can connect emotionally with the content, and remember. My dream is for high school and college students to read this book, and better understand who we have been as a country.

I personally find books without hope challenging. I think this novel is an emotional rollercoaster, worth the ride. If the reader enjoyed the movie “Philomena” with its heartbreak and love, of a child being taken from his mother, and the ensuing search, I believe they can enjoy this story. - Désirée Zamorano

Spark. The story of a child taken from his parents when they were deported is, by every definition, a tough and sad story. Yet, your novel is filled with many moments of love, joy, laughter, and every-day human strengths and frailties and conflicts. It’s a terrific novel but some readers might be tempted to shy away because of its subject matter. What would you say to a reader who is on the fence about whether to dive in or not?

D.Z. Thank you for telling me it’s a terrific novel! I certainly can’t control a reader’s response to the subject matter! I personally find books without hope challenging. I think this novel is an emotional rollercoaster, worth the ride. If the reader enjoyed the movie “Philomena” with its heartbreak and love, of a child being taken from his mother, and the ensuing search, I believe they can enjoy this story.

Spark. You’re a teacher and an artist. There is much to learn from Dispossessed, yet the reader is not hammered with facts or the feeling that a lesson is being taught. How, as a novelist, do you balance the desire to impart information with the desire to make art? What can fiction do that nonfiction can’t do?

D.Z. Imparting information is the subtext, the bass notes, everything else is on top of that- the humanity, the interactions, the emotions. I used half a dozen non fiction texts as the basis of my research. Some are emotionally engaging and enthralling, Vickie L Ruiz’s Out of the Shadows, for one, others less so. The collection of oral histories and photographs in Don Norden’s Chavez Ravine:1949 allowed me to see and feel a place I had never been to. What I feel the best historical fiction can do, is stitch the emotions of being around the elements of reality. Conscientious historians won’t imagine the thoughts of characters, while a novelist can explore the depthless interior.

I wanted to explore the nature of a good man during a time, ours, which is inundated with grotesque, cartoonish imagery of violent, toxic masculinity. Good men are out there! - Désirée Zamorano

Spark. You’ve mentioned that making a young boy the protagonist of this novel was a conscious choice. Tell us more about why you chose to tell the story largely from the perspective of Manuel who grows from a child to a man with a family of his own.

D.Z. I had seen A Man Called Ove and I was struck by the character’s inherent goodness. I wanted to explore the nature of a good man during a time, ours, which is inundated with grotesque, cartoonish imagery of violent, toxic masculinity. Good men are out there! I’m married to one, and I feel I raised one as well. To be a good man, he must be surrounded by the socializing influence of loving women. (Ha, that’s a perfect difference between fiction and nonfiction. Non fiction I can state my goals explicitly, fiction must be more subtle in its portrayal).

I also wanted to avoid centering this on a young girl, because, unfortunately the storyline struck me as honestly being too painful to endure- and to write.

Spark. What has no one asked you about your writing or this novel in particular that you wish they had?

Writing is tough. How do you keep going? (I’ve posted my answer at the end)

Spark. What advice do you have for novelists who want to write about historical events?

D.Z. I was very unsure about setting something so far back in the past. One source recommended reading contemporary texts. Doing that helped me see that most writers aren’t detailing their surroundings, clothing, etc. down to the microscopic level. It helped me relax, and share details, sometimes similar to today, sometimes different.

Spark. What authors and/or books were models or important resources for you?

D.Z. I’ve mentioned two before, but if anyone is skeptical of the premise I recommend Francisco Balderrama’s Decade of Betrayal. To understand the depths of anti-Mexicanness in California, William Deverell’s White-Washed Adobe. I really enjoyed the text and pictures from Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America’s Edge. What is interesting about research, Martin Cruz Smith once said, you have to know how little of it must show. I have a paragraph or a sentence from some of these books. But at least it’s fact-based!

Spark. What are you reading right now? What’s in your TBR stack? Any recommendations?

D.Z. Oh, gosh I recently read The Overstory by Richard Powers which swept me away. I’m looking forward to Erika Wurth’s next horror novel, The Haunting of Room 904. I read everything by Kate Atkinson- and I’ve just finished a nonfiction book that I am evangelizing to everyone: Breath by James Nestor.

Spark. Please add anything you’d like me to share with readers – articles, upcoming events, ways to get signed copies, online readings, etc.

D.Z. These are two events on my calendar:

Saturday March 22nd I’ll be at the Day of Authors at CSU Fullerton
Thursday April 3rd 10 AM I’ll be at Mesa College’s Festival de Libros in San Diego

If people want to keep up with my events, AND receive a favorite published story of mine just email me at dmzeee@gmail.com - I will add their names to my newsletter and send them “Caperucita Roja” a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s been published in a tiny literary journal, so you can’t find it online.

Final thoughts: My favorite quote that inspires me when the writing world is tough, is this from Robert Bresson:

“Make visible, that which without you, might never be seen.” Dispossessed truly embodies this.

If you love historical fiction, check out Beth Kephart’s new novel

I began to follow Beth Kephart’s work after reading her brilliant guide to memoir writing Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir. I’ve recommended it to people who are writing memoir but also to novelists like me because of her beautiful writing and insights that are useful to any writer. I’ve since learned that she is an artist and the author of many other books, fiction and nonfiction. Her first novel for adults is coming next year: Tomorrow Will Bring Sunday’s News: A Philadelphia Story. Inspired by her Irish immigrant grandmother and the notes she left behind, the novel is historical fiction set in Philadelphia in 1918. You can see the cover and read a bit about it on her Substack. I preordered my copy today 1) because I want to read this story very much and 2) because every pre-order supports authors by letting their publishers know there are readers waiting eagerly for this book.

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That’s it for this week! Let me know how you are and what you’re reading. If there’s an idea, book, or question you’d like to see in an upcoming issue of Spark, let us know! Use the comment button below or just hit reply to this email and send your message directly.

P.S. And now, your moment of Zen…December 8, 2020

December evening, no lights, no ornaments, just this

Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”:

What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.

Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.

I can’t wait to see what you send!

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