Print ISBN: 979-8-9913071-4-7
Ebook ISBN: 979-8-9913071-6-1
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Book by Robyn Saunders Wilson
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Cover art by Ryan Floyd Johnson
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Book design by Gwen Schulte
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Managing Editor Michelle Kicherer
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Published by Banana Pitch Press
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Release date March 24, 2026
About
What does the average twelve-year old girl know about cars, grease, or making a quick buck? Absolutely nothing. But with a little memorization of car jargon and a huge dose of bravado, this girl became a master of a rusting world.
Junkyard Princess is a coming-of-age memoirella by Robyn Saunders Wilson about working in her father’s junkyard during the 1980s, where she learned about love, mullets, teenage runaways, and the occasional junkyard dog.
Robyn’s story recounts her displacement from the safe confines of Orange County, California, to her father’s new empire in the middle of the California High Desert. At first, the new business is a lark, but eventually she’s drawn in to service hawking auto parts amidst a motley assortment of fugitives and refugees. Too young to know better, she somehow misses that the people around her may be slightly dangerous—they were, after all, recently released from prison or on the run from their countries under mysterious circumstances. And when the rise of meth use takes hold of the area, a new flicker of danger threatens to strike its match on the Saunders’ junkyard kingdom.
The years continue and she becomes better at selling things she knows nothing about. So good that her parents leave her to run the show while they take vacations. Left without any real role models and lost among kids her own age, Robyn fakes her way through her teen years by mimicking the only adults she knows: soap opera stars and characters plucked from Danielle Steel romance novels. Through this pretense she is able to shapeshift while keeping her true identity—a shy, naive child—under lock and key.
All empires must collapse and all little girls must grow up. But first, there is love to be found, music to discover, and womanhood to shirk from. Junkyard Princess explores familial bonds and inherited histories, empty gas tanks, and that sweet spot of redemption that only comes from a life of observing and choosing differently.
BIO
Robyn Saunders Wilson is a non-fiction writer based in Salem, Oregon. A graduate of Portland State University’s Professional Writing MA program, she has split her time as a communications consultant, bike shop owner, mountain bike coach, and community activist, but mostly a writer of stories–true and otherwise.
Robyn’s work has been published in Pile Press, House of Huckleberry, Press Play, and Annabelle Magazine, amongst others.
Press & Praise
“Saunders deftly traverses the real effects of an upbringing surrounded by the motley scrappers, buyers, and sellers within her father’s junkyard universe, and the drug addiction, violence, and echoes these traumas produce.”
— Willamette Week [ Read ]
“A short but hard-hitting and empathetic chronicle of an unusual childhood.”
— Kirkus Reviews [ Read ]
“Junkyard Princess is a generous, wise, and deeply moving memoir. Robyn Saunders Wilson has gifted us a beautifully written and powerful exploration of inherited trauma and the enduring love that seeks to heal. Don’t miss this one!”
–Alan Drew, author of Gardens of Water and The Recruit
“Junkyard Princess is a collection of vignettes that drive down vulnerable and youthful roads unexpected, yet familiar. Aching with nostalgia, Saunders claims "we are children without brakes", but through scraps of memories and heaps of time, the brakes of reality fast approach. Through these raw recollections – some shiny, some rusted, some sexy red and some painfully dented, the reader is led by Saunders to the beauty and richness of myth in truth amidst self-discovery.”
– SarahAnn Harvey, Founding Editor of Pile Press
“I laughed. I cried. Junkyard Princess gave me all the feels…a tender slice of life filled with humor, heartbreak, and unexpected moments of meaning. Just when you think you know where her story is headed, a surprise turn invites you deeper—opening memories, sparking connection, and reminding you how beautifully human we all are. This touching, relatable story will make you laugh, smile, and stay with you long after the final page.”
-Carlee Wright, Editor, Press Play Magazine [Read the Press Play feature]
"Author of debut memoir said CSUSB exposed her to possibilities she had never imagined. In her debut memoir, “Junkyard Princess,” CSUSB alumna Robyn Saunders Wilson reflects on growing up in a High Desert junkyard and how Cal State San Bernardino opened the door to possibilities she had never imagined. Through stories marked by resilience, humor and compassion, Wilson explores family, identity and the transformative power of education."
– Cal State San Bernardino University [Read]
“Surviving looks like a lot of different things for different people,” Saunders Wilson said. She hopes readers can also find meaning from their lives and not leave others behind."
– Interview with KOIN 6 Everyday Northwest [Watch the interview]