Mary Sojourner

29 Mary Sojourner

"Ever–ascending Sojourner cooks up wrenching sorrow and hilarious banter, environmental and moral conundrums, magnetizing characters, and a place of transcendent beauty in this intoxicating, provocative, and gloriously told desert tale of wildness and community, unexpected bonds and deep legacies, trauma and healing."
—Donna Seaman, BOOKLIST (starred review)

"This standout ecological novel from Arizona author Sojourner (Going Through Ghosts) features picturesque prose, a vivid western setting, and sharply drawn characters."
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)

"In Nell Walker, Mary Sojourner has created a character who discovers—in her own desperate way—the simple beauty in the interconnectedness of the natural world and the complexities we heap upon it. Written with passion and humor, 29 takes the reader on a journey of hope, humanity, and love."
—Jana Richman, author of Riding in the Shadows of Saints, The Last Cowgirl, and The Ordinary Truth

"29 is at the intersection of a local road to Nowhere and an interstate to Everywhere. Certainly Mary's prose and storytelling is crystalline and lovely, a kind of geode broth, filled with light and piquancy."
—David Kranes, author of The Legend?s Daughter and The National Tree

"Sojourner's desert eyes not only see but transform what others dismiss and ignore. She brings readers deep into the dust and sparkle of the Mojave, forcing the reader to hear the people of the desert—their stories, their sorrows, and their fierce and fragile loves. 29 holds the ragged weeping desert open, then kisses closed her wounds. A love letter to what we frequently deem unloveable, 29 is a wide–armed triumph of hope."
—Laraine Herring, author of Ghost Swamp Blues and Writing Begins with the Breath

"This is a story that will stay with the readers and, perhaps, bring them home to their own place, and the importance of fighting for what you love."
—Susan Lang, author of the Mojave novels trilogy

"The language is sharp as a butcher's blade, the dialogue rings true and hard, and the story cuts deeply into its reader."
—H. Lee Barnes, author of Cold Deck, The Lucky, and Car Tag

"Sojourner's new novel, much like the desert landscapes in which it is set, will never speak to those who see the Mojave as an annoying blur between L. A. and Vegas, but those adventurous enough (or lost enough) to wander off I–15 will find a world bursting with fragile beauty, tenacious life, and rock hard truth."
—Giles Carwyn, author of Queen of Oblivion