Books that complement each other, Pt. 2: Godshot and A Prayer for Travelers

These debut novels feature young women who have been abandoned and are desperately trying to find themselves and a way out of the desolate, parched small towns in which they live.

In Godshot (2020), 14-year-old Lacey May is abandoned by her mother and comes under the sway of a preacher whose congregation has become a cult. Once she understands what it means to be “godshot,” she’s determined to escape. She tries everything she can think of to find her mother, believing there was a reason she left and that their relationship can be put right, but in doing so she finds a different kind of family. Set in a tiny farm town in California’s Central Valley, Godshot perfectly captures the personal impact of the community’s literal and moral drought.

A Prayer for Travelers (2019) is the story of Cale Lambert, who has been raised by her ailing grandfather in an isolated desert town on the California-Nevada border. When she takes a job waitressing at the local diner, she reconnects with Penny Reyes, the bad girl of her school years. Penny begins to break Cale out of her shell by exposing her to the hidden life in her town and beyond. But following a shocking act of violence, Penny disappears, and Cale becomes obsessed with tracking her down. A Prayer for Travelers is a compelling “desert noir” with the tense, wary mood of someone stuck in the middle of nowhere at 2 a.m.

Both novels are distinguished by a strong sense of place and by fiercely determined protagonists fighting to overcome a history of neglect and abuse. Chelsea Bieker confirmed that Godshot was no fluke with her follow-up, Heartbroke (2022), a stellar short story collection that works with similar themes and settings. I’m still waiting for Ruchika Tomar’s sophomore effort.