This novel started as a short-story. The characters and the landscape are so compelling. The main character, Alice Winston, is a lonely 12-year old girl living with her family in Desert Valley, Colorado. Her mother is clinically depressed and rarely leaves her room, her 16-year old sister eloped and her father is emotionally unavailable as he works to keep the family's ranch operating. The novel opens with, "Six months before Polly Cain drowned in the canal, my sister, Nona, ran off and married a cowboy."

Horse lore plays a huge role and is used to explain and examine the subtleties and nuances of each character. The prose is flawless and Kyle literally transports her readers to the landscape of the west.


The author is a recent graduate from the MFA program at Montana.