Huntington Beach author aims to evoke empathy with her latest novel

Some take up golf or gardening as they drift into their retirement years.

Huntington Beach’s Mary Camarillo is most at home writing — about her home, as it turns out.

Camarillo released her second novel, “Those People Behind Us,” last month. The book follows five neighbors in the fictional Wellington Beach, Calif., in the summer of 2017, trying to navigate life after Donald Trump has been elected president.

Politics, protests and rising housing prices are all in play, and it’s not by accident if that sounds like Huntington Beach. Place names have been changed slightly, though, as the characters reside in Citrus County with neighboring cities like Fountain Springs and Garden City.

The characters include Lisa the real estate agent, Vietnam veteran Ray, ex-con Keith, teenage drummer Josh and aerobics teacher Jeannette. The character in focus changes, depending on the chapter.

Camarillo, 71, calls it a pandemic book. She walked around the neighborhood with her husband Steve often during the COVID-19 lockdown, making up stories about the people they saw and the things they heard.

“I made up stories about people that I don’t know, and I think we all kind of do that these days,” she said. “We all listen to the same news and talk to people we agree with. Those people that we don’t talk to, we make assumptions about them. What I hope that I did in this book is to show that once these people start showing a little bit of empathy toward each other, they understand that they’re wrong about some of the things they’re assuming. Or maybe they’re not wrong, but these people are still human beings that have problems that they can relate to.”

Author Mary Camarillo holds out two of her novels at her Huntington Beach home.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Camarillo, originally from North Carolina, moved to Fountain Valley as a teenager and was part of the first graduating class at Fountain Valley High in 1970. She has called Surf City home for nearly 30 years.

After a lengthy career with the United States Postal Service, including time later in her career writing and editing audits with the Office of Inspector General, she retired at age 60.

“I was one of those people that go into an operation with a clipboard and just start writing down things that are wrong,” she said. “Nobody really likes those people.”

Yet she believes her job became an impetus for her new passion, after taking writing classes at UC Irvine, Irvine Valley College and Chapman University.

“The fiction that I like to read and write is about people that make bad decisions and have problems,” she said. “You want to help the reader understand why they’re like that, and you want to make them care about this person.”

Her husband understands finding things later in life; Steve Camarillo became a dedicated ukulele player after retiring. Mary said she loves listening to his music, though she does sometimes employ noise-canceling headphones for his practice sessions.

In turn, she often has something for her husband to read.

“She’s worked very hard after retiring, taking classes and going to seminars and weekend retreats and stuff like that,” Steve Camarillo said. “Sometimes she came saying, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ But she just buckled down and I didn’t see her for a couple of days, and she’s upstairs hacking away. She’s not one to give up, that’s for sure.”

Mary Camarillo released her first novel, “The Lockhart Women,” in 2021. Like that endeavor, her latest book was published by hybrid company She Writes Press.

Even the title of the novel, “Those People Behind Us,” evokes a certain reaction.

“I find myself saying ‘those people’ a lot,” she said. “You know, those people are probably going to vote this way, those people probably don’t agree with me … What I tried to do was maybe shine a little light on why people think the things that they think.”

Huntington Beach author Mary Camarillo has released two books in the last three years.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Character Keith Nelson, for example, lives in his car and fights loneliness. He gets involved with a Trump rally, which makes him feel a sense of belonging.

“Someone gives him a red hat and invites him to come have a beer downtown, and he shows up,” Camarillo said. “He feels like he’s part of something, but he quickly realizes that it’s something he shouldn’t be a part of. He also has an arrest background, and he doesn’t really need to get arrested again.”

Lisa Kensington, meanwhile, has a powerful role in the community and becomes outraged when the city plans to build low-income housing next to her.

Both liberals and MAGA conservatives inhabit Wellington Beach. By the end of the story, though, the characters all realize how connected they really are.

Camarillo has been engaged in promotional events for the book, including one at Barnes & Noble at Bella Terra mall last month. She said when “Those People Behind Us” was first released, it was No. 3 on Amazon’s humorous literary fiction bestsellers list, which itself made her chuckle a bit.

“I don’t think this book is that humorous … but if people think it’s funny, that’s good,” she said. “There’s a lot of stuff in it that’s not that funny, but there’s probably dark humor in my work, too.”

Camarillo said she has gotten positive reaction to the book from neighbors in different places on the political spectrum.

“Some of these people are fairly conservative — see, ‘these people,’ I’m using that expression again,” Camarillo said. “I know they’re conservative, but I think they’re recognizing that I’ve got conservative characters in this book too and I’m letting them speak their own voice. I don’t think I’m putting words in their mouth.

“Of course, I am putting words in their mouth, though,” she added with a laugh and some quick wit. “I’m a fiction writer. Fiction writers are liars.”