Alejandro Morales, author or Caras viejas y vino nuevo (1975), La verdad sin voz(1979) and Reto en el paraíso (1983), un dertakes in The Brick People —his first novel in English— a historical novel that traces the growth of California from the ninetenth to the twentieth century through the establishment and flousishing of the Simons Brick Factory.
The bricks that laid the foundation of modern California were manudactured by the people that ventured from central Mexico to stoke the furnaces of industry. With an attention to historical reality blended with myth and legend, Morales recounts the epic struggle of a people to forge their destiny, along with California's. In this fictional but nonetheless factual story, two families are pitted against each other: the powerful Simons and the proud Revueltas clan. This the true story of California.
"Morales eloquently fuses the fantastic and the factual."
—Publisher's Weekly
"The book is worth reading... it fills a gap in the history of the chicano worker. Recommended for public and academic libraries."
—Choice
