In his latest book, From Sleepy Lagoon to the Corner of the Cats, Steve Sporleder recounts the saga of four generations of la familia Reyes in powerful, moving terms. Through his consummate storytelling and details of setting and place, we are transported to 1917 when newlyweds Ramon and Monica Reyes flee the Mexican Revolution in search of the “American Dream.†In a defining moment in the 1940s, Miguel “Mickey†Reyes, their teenage son, makes a life-altering decision late one night in the outskirts of the barrios of Los Angeles that forever shapes this family’s destiny—a tragedy that propels the Reyes away from Sleepy Lagoon and north to the quiet and lush town of Los Gatos.
"Sporleder’s deft style engages us early on in this singular narrative that weaves the thread of la familia Reyes through four generations, from the 1917 Mexican Revolution to the bubbling cauldron of racial tension in 1940s Los Angeles and, finally, to Los Gatos, California. I really couldn’t put it down."
— Michelle Patricia Brown, Physician and Writer
Steve Sporleder was a firefighter in Saratoga, CA for thirty-two years and draws on his experience as a fifth generation Los Gatos resident to infuse his writing with local flavor and history.