THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED FOR A LATER DATE.
Renowned author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins joins Alta Journal books editor David L. Ulin for a live conversation on her latest novel, Properties of Thirst. This story of land and inheritance and an examination of a changing American landscape is set against the backdrop of World War II. An epic tale of one family’s unbreakable bond, Properties of Thirst was selected as the first Alta Serials, in which we published a five-part serialization of the opening section of the book. (Readers who haven’t been following along can catch up here.) Ulin, who was instrumental in helping Wiggins finalize and edit this novel following her stroke, sits down with the author for this very special hybrid episode of Alta Live, presented in partnership with Simon & Schuster and streamed live from Diesel: a Bookstore.
About the guest:
Marianne Wiggins is the author of eight books of fiction, including John Dollar, Evidence of Things Unseen, and two short story collections. For her novel Evidence of Things Unseen, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. She has won a Whiting Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the Heidinger Kafka Prize, and she was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Wiggins lives in Los Angeles.
About the book:
Set against the backdrop of World War II, Properties of Thirst is an epic story of one family’s unbreakable bond. The Rhodes family is at the center of the story. Rocky Rhodes has spent years fiercely protecting his California ranch from the Los Angeles Water Corporation. He lost his beloved wife, Lou, years earlier and raised their twins, Sunny and Stryker, on the ranch alongside his sister. With the country on the brink of war, Stryker enlists in the navy, and soon his family is forced to endure another senseless tragedy. Now more than ever, Rocky is determined to hold onto the only home his children have ever known. This goal is further complicated when the U.S. government begins construction on a Japanese internment camp on the edge of the property, and Rocky realizes that the land faces even bigger threats than the L.A. watermen he’s battled for years.•
