Matt Baca

“A gorgeous, consuming, and indelible novel, overflowing with the best of what novels can do… I loved this book.”

—Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans

Before he’s sentenced to prison, Robin lives a hard, dried-out life in an adobe casita among the yuccas and cholla cactuses in the desierto alto, New Mexico’s high desert. But he also knows tenderness and love because of his traditional abuelos who raise him. And because of Cristina, a brilliant, fiercely independent girl from the Laguna Pueblo who insists she will be a scientist. Who insists Robin will be someone too. With her.

But just as Robin and Cristina start new lives in colleges far from home, they’re ripped apart. Robin is arrested and sentenced to federal prison because he’s fallen into one of his twin brother’s schemes. And because someone has died.

Now, seven years into Robin’s prison sentence, as Cristina has found new love, someone is secretly trying to free Robin. Someone—Robin can’t guess who—is working in the judge’s chambers, risking everything for Robin and Cristina, even as the prosecutor and the judge become increasingly suspicious. All because once, in the desierto alto, Robin and Cristina saved this friend first.

“Matt Baca is a brilliant stylist and his first novel is a tour de force of friendship, love, and obsession.”

—Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen