The Only Book I Know Featuring a Character Born in My Hometown

Joan Didion’s A Book of Common Prayer. Part one, chapter three. Page twenty-two in the 1995 Vintage International printing.

I have not read it yet, but given how well Joan Didion knows California, I have to imagine she chose Hollister to Charlotte Douglas’s hometown for a reason. And my first guess would be that it’s a stand-in for a sort of west coast anytown, but her reasoning could be — and probably is — more profound than something so simple. Either way, this is easily a cultural highlight for a smallish, breezy that at one point was literally known for its hayseeds.

Will report when I know.