A Redwood Valley vineyard, a grieving teen and a lot of miracles

Lili Zwart didn’t write Miracles on Bella Camila for me. It’s a young adult novel. I’m past 60. Still, the back cover says it “will appeal to readers young and old,” and some days I still think I’m 16. I read it as both of us.

The book opens in 2019. Gabe Chureste is 15, and his mother, Marie, a nurse, is dying of Morgellons disease, a skin condition that most doctors don’t recognize, according to the novel. The family has 11 acres of vines in Redwood Valley. Gabe’s Chilean great-grandfather Miguel won the land in a poker game, or so the family story goes.