"In This Land of Plenty" captures the complex dynamics of family, exploration and exploitation, and the necessary accommodation to circumstances without submission. Extraordinary accomplishment by the author.

Gold Medal Winner, Fiction--Western, Readers' Favorite Awards, 2021! IPPY Award Winner! Best Regional Fiction--E-book, Bronze, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2021 ** Finalist in both Family Saga and Historical Fiction categories, American Fiction Awards, 2021! Top 100 Notable Book, 2020!

"In Fertile Soil: Stories of the California Dream", Mary Smathers presents the light and dark sides of contemporary California, the perseverance of its residents and the richness of its culture across a grand sweep of history. Smathers focuses on those who demonstrate tenacious resilience as they tackle adversity, accepting challenges they could more easily shirk. 

About the Author:

I grew up in Los Altos, California and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Latin American Studies. I earned a Master’s degree in Education and another MA in Educational Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. From 1983 to 2013, I worked in public schools throughout California as a high school teacher, administrator, teacher trainer, grant writer and educational entrepreneur, helping to found three education companies and a public charter school.
Since that time, I have focused on creativity and writing, reporting for a bilingual, regional Costa Rican newspaper and publishing my first work of fiction, Fertile Soil: Stories of the California Dream, in 2016. I published my debut novel, In This Land of Plenty, in July of 2020.
I divide my time between Costa Rica's Pacific Coast, where I live with my husband and two big dogs, and the Monterey Peninsula, California.