Dreams of Earth and Sky: A Novel

A ranchero’s daughter in 1845 California fights for her home in a sweeping historical romance of rebellious love, family loyalty, identity, and sacrifice.

California, 1845. Mexican rancheros reign, and while American ambitions threaten their future, the Ávila family’s rancho, El Sueño, is for now a safe haven.

It’s time for twenty-year-old Mariana Ávila, the strong-willed daughter of a wealthy ranchero, to accept tradition and marry. Though Ramón, her childhood sweetheart, is her best prospect, Mariana bristles against convention and aims to follow her own path. When foreign settlers and US forces encroach on the Californios, Mariana meets Irish immigrant Patrick Murphy and is suddenly caught between two admirers and two worlds about to collide. As everything Mariana knows collapses around her, she must navigate the twists of fate to come and the devastating price of American conquest that threatens more than her beloved El Sueño.

Set against the epic backdrop of a tumultuous moment in California’s history, this is, at its heart, the intimate story of a young woman’s fight to protect her family’s legacy and search for love across an impossible divide.

Shirley Perez West grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula among the remnants of California ranchos. After years as a journalist and a public relations professional, she dived into the historical archives to find the voices of the Mexican Californios, learn the story of her forebears, and write about this buried piece of the Western saga. Shirley holds a BA and an MS in journalism, and her work has appeared in the short-fiction anthologies Midnight in the Garden and Echoes and in the poetry collection Sheltering. A longtime Oregon resident, she divides her time between Portland and the coastal village of Manzanita, where she enjoys paddling for a women’s dragon boat team.

“In Dreams of Earth and Sky, Mariana, an impassioned protagonist who captures the reader’s heart, must claim the life she’s meant to lead to protect her family’s legacy, even if it means jeopardizing everything she holds dear. Shirley West’s debut enthralls with its rich descriptions of ranch life and the wild beauty of 19th century California, the gripping and tragic story of the American conquest, and a love story that keeps you turning the pages. Absorbing, beautifully written, and an important tale that brings to life a forgotten and hidden past, I couldn’t put it down!” —Heather Webb, USA Today bestselling author of The Hope Keeper

“Dreams of Earth and Sky is a sweeping, deeply immersive saga that brings the lost world of early California vividly to life. Through unforgettable characters and exquisite detail, Shirley Perez West captures a time of beauty, upheaval, and longing with breathtaking emotional depth. Lush, heartbreaking, and profoundly romantic, this is a story that lingers long after the final page.” —Kim Taylor Blakemore, bestselling author of After Alice Fell

“ In DREAMS OF EARTH AND SKY, Shirley Perez West transports readers to the 1840s in a gripping tale about the “Californios”—wealthy landowners and descendants of Spanish and Mexican settlers whose ranches were threatened by Americans as they moved west and conquered. I was captivated by history I knew little about and the story of Mariana Ávila, the strong-willed daughter of a wealthy ranchero. Torn between her family’s expectations, the man they’ve chosen for her, and a forbidden love, Mariana struggles to save her childhood home even as her world is falling apart. Perez West’s debut is both heart-rending and triumphant. A very compelling read.” —Adriana Allegri, bestselling author of The Sunflower House

When strong-willed ranchero’s daughter Mariana crosses paths unexpectedly with Irish immigrant Patrick, neither of their lives are ever the same again. Yearning for one another across an impossible divide, their love story is timeless, heart-wrenching, and utterly cinematic. Dreams of Earth and Sky is set during California’s volatile transition from a Mexican territory—upending everything Mariana has ever known and forcing her to choose between tradition or to follow her heart. Fans of a sweeping historical like Cold Mountain and News of the World will devour this unputdownable debut.

—Emily Freidenrich, Editor