Skywater
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“Brand X and his fellow coyotes . . . are meticulously observed in the desert environment that Ms. Popham seems to know like her backyard. And so are the people of this fable—old Hallie and Albert . . . and the several varmint-hunters, callous or alcoholic or both. There is a parable of how we might relate to the creatures that share the world with us; and a parable of dreams versus realty; and a parable of home, of known territory with its comparative safety; and a parable of making the best of a world short of everything. The people and the creatures of Ms. Popham’s fable are right, they belong, and they mean.” —Wallace Stegner
“This spare and affecting novel has the precision and the stinging sweetness of a fable. A wonderful book.” —Thomas McGuane
“Refreshing . . . Life-affirming . . . The first book I’ve read in a long time that left me with teary eyes at the end.”—The San Diego Tribune
“Captivating . . . The animals’ arduous westward journey down the Colorado River to the Gulf suggests a coyote world view that is subtly sustained by their mysterious ways.” —Publishers Weekly
“With dramatic urgency and imaginative tenderness, Melinda Popham has given the world a painful, poetic, and delightfully unpredictable story that pulsates with hope and healing meaning.” —Al Young, California Poet Laureate Emeritus
“Rich with poetic resonance.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Evoking a rich sense of place and animal behavior, [Popham] lets us see through very different eyes.” —The Seattle Times
“A daring and visionary tale. [Popham] dares to tell us what a coyote thinks and sees and feels and dreams. . . . A hero of the classic kind—a furry, howling, water-seeking version of the Hero with a Thousand Faces.” —James D. Houston
“Masterful . . . Astonishing . . . Remarkable . . . Put down the latest technothriller and bask awhile in the descriptive prose of Skywater.” —L.A. Life
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A band of coyotes in the southwestern Sonora desert are an important part of the life of the Ryders, a crusty old couple who have lived simply in the desert for more than 40 years. In this captivating exploration of coyote life by an author obviously well-researched in their ways, the characters--human and animal--interact in a credible, unsentimental narrative that portrays the delicate peril of our ecological systems. In an appropriately spare, ascetic style, we encounter the Ryders, self-made isolates nearing the close of their long escape from civilization in the desert. The coyotes, who share the Ryders' drinking water until it becomes tainted by a nearby copper mine, are forced to embark upon a search for a fresh supply. The animals' arduous westward journey down the Colorado River to the Gulf suggests a coyote world view that is subtly sustained by their mysterious ways.
