Books that complement each other (pt. 6 in an occasional series)
Properties of Thirst and Miracle Country celebrate the Eastern Sierra Nevada in dramatic fashion.
In the first five posts in this series, I paired two works of fiction, but this time I’ve chosen a novel and a memoir set in the Owens Valley (high desert) on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, sometimes referred to as “the forgotten California.”
Properties of Thirst (2022) takes place during WWII and is a family saga, a coming of age story, a love story, an examination of the water wars with Los Angeles Department of Water (which planned to take water from the Owens Valley), and a scathing look at the construction of the Manzanar internment camp for Japanese-Americans between Lone Pine and Independence. Marianne Wiggins is an acclaimed writer who deserves to be more widely read. Her 2003 novel, Evidence of Things Unseen, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Miracle Country (2020) is the story of the author’s family, running from the 1960s to the present, and their close ties to the harsh yet breathtaking landscape. Life in the isolated and drought-stricken Owens Valley is difficult, but for the type of people who choose to live there, it’s the only place where they feel at home. Kendra Atleework’s writing is probing yet compassionate and her prose evokes a strong sense of place. Now I know why my son and his fiancé take Highway 395 along the Eastern Sierra Nevada when they drive between their home in Lake Tahoe and Southern California (rather than the faster 5 or 99 freeways down the Central Valley).