Keepers of the Shadow People: Life on a California Ranch with Undocumented Workers

“I think we’ve just bought a piece of paradise.”

I looked in the direction of the dark stranger retreating into the brush, the dead rattlesnake still spasming, and the sea of nettles at our feet… “I hope so.”

Friendships are formed and loyalties are tested in Heidi G. Wilson’s poignant new memoir, Keepers of the Shadow People.

When she and her husband purchase forty acres of land in Escondido, California to pursue their dream of starting an avocado farm, Wilson isn’t quite prepared for the bugs, heat, and utter isolation that awaits.

But as they slowly build a life for themselves in the seemingly inhospitable wilderness, Wilson’s loneliness dissipates as she and her family form deep friendships with the illegal aliens they hired to work for them.

Keepers of the Shadow People chronicles the bond that develops between these seemingly different groups of people as Wilson and her husband provide them food, offer shelter, and set up an alarm system throughout the valley to warn the illegal workers that immigration authorities are approaching.

While chronicling their battles against forest fires, deadly animals, and the land itself, Wilson paints a moving portrait of the people behind a polarizing national debate.