Synopsis
It is 1965, and the Delano Grape Strike has divided California's Central Valley, an area that depends on agriculture for its economic survival. When student activist LaDonna Tuttle is murdered, her brother, Coy Lee, travels to Delano in search of her suspected killer, someone who works as an organizer for Cesar Chavez and his union of farm workers. Coy pretends to join the striking workers, where he finds more questions than answers. Where has he seen the defiant union worker before? And why does she distrust him so much? What did his best friend fail to tell him the night of LaDonna's murder? Why has his friend's wealthy, flamboyant mother really financed his trip to Delano? Who is trying to frighten Coy into leaving town? What began as an act of revenge becomes a fight for survival as more acts of violence are committed, and Coy is entangled in a forbidden love affair. His search for the murderer culminates at the union's Huelga House, where he discovers a secret that can destroy his life and his world. Set during one of the most tumultuous periods in California's history, Huelga House is a story about hating, healing, and the price we pay for both.
Publishers Weekly
Amid farmworker strikes and illicit love affairs in California's San Joaquin Valley during the 1960s, Coy Lee Tuttle, a grape-grower's son, hunts down his sister's suspected killer, a protester from the ranks of Cesar Chavez. Coy Lee undergoes a political coming of age as he discovers a devastating secret about his family in Bonnie Hearn's Huelga House, another debut novel. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.