Lost at Home



Lost at Home (Spanish: Perdido en la Patria) is a coming of age novel by Californian writer Amanda Welden, published in 1977. The plot, characters, and events are based upon the author’s own life experiences when she was a young adult during the height of the Troubles in the 1970s. The title of the novel is a reference to a widely used maxim by Californian nationalists, which calls California the fatherland of the Californian people.

The novel follows Emily, the daughter of non-Californios, through her freshman year at the University of California San Gabriel in 1974. Written in both English and Californian Spanish, the book details Emily’s navigation between the worlds of her small ethnic neighborhood, the greater Californio-majority region, and her diverse campus during the apex of ethnic violence in 1974. The novel primary’s themes involve disillusionment, social alienation, cultural identity, and ethnic relations in California as Emily tries to reconcile her disparate identities while trying to avoid being a target of ethnic violence. Welden also addresses more commonly experienced issues by young adults such as gender, sexuality, and mental health.

Upon its publication in California, it was widely perceived to be a criticism of ethnic Californian nationalism and an attack of the governing Popular Movement. Thus Lost at Home received mixed and polarized reactions from pro-government newspapers and media. However it instantly became a commercial success in California and the United States. Outside of California it quickly became a critical success, although it took another two decades before it would receive critical success in its home state.

Today, the book is considered one of the best pieces of modern Californian literature, and is widely taught in high schools and universities across California today. Lost at Home has had a significant cultural impact on California, most notably by associating the California primrose with the Californian Civil Rights Movement, despite it having little presence in the symbolism of the original movement. The San Gabriel Post, the most prominent independent newspaper in California, lists it as Number 1 in their list of Best Californian Literature and Number 3 in their list of the 100 Best Novels. Nevertheless it still continues to be subject to criticism for its negative depiction of the Californian nationalist movement of the 1970s and Californian government's handling of the Troubles. In 1987, it was adapted into a Obrador Award-winning film directed by Lupe Hernandez and starring Julie Rodness.