Dune Child is Ella Thorp Ellis' compelling memoir of growing up during the Great Depression in a bohemian collective beach community in central California. . Falling on hard times, her father, an agent for silent movie stars, and her mother, a beautiful, creative woman, migrated to Moy Mell in the Pismo Dunes. Frequent visitors included 20th century notables such as John Steinbeck, Edward Weston, and Upton Sinclair. Thriving as the only child among supportive adults, in this memoir Ella Thorp Ellis tells the story of an extraordinary upbringing in a bountiful natural and human environment.