ASU Book Group: 'Desert Divide' by Kelli Donley

The ASU Book Group's February 2023 reading selection is "Desert Divide” by Kelli Donley. The book group is open to all in the ASU community and meets monthly from noon–1 p.m. with two different options for attendance: either in-person at the Piper Writers House or virtually on Zoom (registration required for online attendance). In-person attendees are invited to join the author for lunch after at the University Club, no-host.

Haven't read the book? Come anyway! Authors are always present.

Synopsis:

This novel is a “ripped-from-the-headlines” story of family, revenge and justice spanning the ranches of southern Arizona to the dinner tables of Mexico City’s elite. It’s 2016. Sarah McDaniels receives a call in the night that her mother has died unexpectedly. Returning to the family’s ranch in the high desert of southeastern Arizona, Sarah finds her childhood home and her father’s health in tatters.

More than a decade ago, Sarah left to chase a dream in New York City. Now, faced with burying her mother and trying to arrange care for her father, Sarah takes a walk across the family’s land to clear her head. When she stumbles over something on the desert floor, the last thing she expects to find is the body of a young woman her own age.

Who was this woman? Why was she on their family’s ranch? Who killed her?

The book is available on amazon.com.

Kelli Donley is a graduate of ASU.

About the book group:

The ASU Book Group meetings and selections for 2022-2023 are:

• Sep. 28: "Now in Color" by Jacqueline Balderrama
• Oct. 26: “Manifesting Justice" by Valena Beety
• Nov. 30: “Dear Diaspora” by Susan Nguyen
• [NEW DATE] Dec. 21: “To Live and Die in El Valle” by Oscar Mancinas
• Jan. 25: “Fat in Four Cultures” by Cindi SturtzSreetharan, Alexandra Brewis, and Amber Wutich
• Feb. 22: “Desert Divide” by Kelli Donley
• Mar. 29: “Animal Revolution” by Ron Broglio [Note change from 4/26]
• Apr. 26: "A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman” by Lindy Elkins-Tanton [Note change from 3/29]

The ASU Book Group is sponsored as a community outreach initiative by the Department of English and organized in partnership with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.