The Optimistic Decade

Description

About the Book:

Framed by the oil shale bust and the real estate boom, The Optimistic Decade takes us into the lives of five unforgettable characters, and is a sweeping novel about idealism, love, class, and a piece of land that changes everyone who lives on it.
There is Caleb Silver, the founder of the back-to-the-land camp Llamalo, who is determined to teach others to live simply. There is Rebecca Silver, determined to become an activist like her father; and David, a teenager who has turned Llamalo into his personal religion. And the ranchers, Don and son Donnie, who gave up their land to Caleb, having run out of options after Exxon came and went. But Llamalo, situated in the heart of the Rockies proves that it might outlast anyone's heady plans for it, from the earliest Native American settlers to the latest lovers of the land.
About the Author:

Heather Abel was raised in Santa Monica, California. She attended Swarthmore College and subsequently worked as a reporter and editor for political newspapers. Her essays have been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, and elsewhere.
She received her MFA in fiction from the New School, where she later taught creative nonfiction writing. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband and two daughters.