Becoming the Jewel (Memory Keeper)

Becoming the Jewel continues the story of Tomás Romero and his family in San Juan Capistrano, CA. In the book, The Memory Keeper, Tomás, a native of the Acjachemen band, called Juaneños by the mission priests, narrated the story of his life at Mission San Juan Capistrano between 1820 and 1890.
Following Tomás’s death at the age of seventy, his granddaughter-in-law, Fiona, an immigrant from Ireland, takes up the story. Fiona and her husband, Michel Ross, take over the mercantile Tomás owned, along with continuing to run the McBride family pub.
The local Juaneño population is decimated and the remnants scattered throughout California and the west.
The mission is in total ruin, subject to vandalism and neglect. The Serra Chapel roof collapses. With no priest in residence, visiting priests hold infrequent services in the former sala, or reception room, as a temporary chapel. Michael joins Judge Egan and the Lummis Landmarks Club in an attempt to save the mission.
The railroad brings a land boom to Orange County. Newcomers fill the town, many with new ideas and their own plans for the future. Will the mission survive and find a new priest, and can old San Juan Capistrano continue to thrive in the new century?
Although the story is rich in local history, it is, in the end, an engaging family saga with characters who come alive.