Advance praise for April Dávila and 142 Ostriches
“An engrossing and original tale of love, betrayal, and extremely large birds, April Dávila’s 142 Ostriches is a novel that blooms like springtime in the California desert. Fiercely independent, brave, and tender, Tallulah Jones is a heroine for our time.”
—Seth Greenland, author of The Hazards of Good Fortune
“Vividly imagined and deeply felt, 142 Ostriches is an utterly absorbing tale of an intrepid young woman coming of age in the California desert. I loved Dávila’s big-hearted debut about land, family, and the ties that bind. Highly recommended.”
—Lindsey Lee Johnson, author of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
“142 Ostriches is unlike anything I’ve read before. Wholly unique, this cinematic novel exposes readers to the relatively unknown industry of ostrich farming. In Dávila’s skillful hands, the desert comes alive and the ostriches are as compelling as the human characters. Tallulah herself is a memorable, strong-willed protagonist. Her struggle to negotiate family obligations with her own desires feels both singular and highly relatable. I loved following her through the pages of this fast-paced and lovely novel.”
—Amy Meyerson, author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays
“April Dávila has made the rare thing: The perfect meeting of plot and character. A hurtling adventure of family intrigue helmed by a heroine for the ages, Dávila’s novel will make your heart swell as big as an ostrich egg, and then hatch it.”
—Katie Williams, author of Tell the Machine Goodnight
Please turn the page for more advance praise! “Dávila’s observant prose conjures the drama of sun-scorched days and the calm of cool painted evenings as it chronicles the struggles and rewards of a rugged life in the vast Mohave. This is a story that envelops you with a sense of place, and uses its setting to reveal how the human heart, like wildflowers after a rampaging storm, can thrive in the harshest conditions. It is a tale as surprising and delightful as a profusion of florid color in the sandy stretches of the California desert.”
—Yvonne Puig, author of A Wife of Nobel Character
“142 Ostriches, April Dávila’s utterly unique novel, nails the Zeitgeist when she inherits a Death Valley bird ranch she’d hoped to escape. An avian Greek chorus, the birds seem to observe and share her longing to stand in a place of my own choosing. With unsentimental acuity, her narrator confronts the intangible covenant foisted upon her, and the reality that the disposal of her flock, from nature to product, is by no means a matter just for the birds.”
—Rita Williams, author of If the Creek Don’t Rise
“An unusual ranching tale set in the Mojave Desert, where the herd is a flock of eight-foot-tall birds and their wrangler a young woman raised by her gruff grandmother who dreams of another kind of life. A twisty, warmhearted story of family, community and fate, a thoroughgoing delight.”
—Janet Fitch, author of The Revolution of Marina M and Chimes of a Lost Cathedral
“Compelling and beautifully written—you need to read this book.”
—Erin La Rosa, author of The Big Redhead Book and Womanskills
142 OSTRICHES
April Dávila
KENSINGTON BOOKS
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Praise Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Epigraph ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN Acknowledgments 142 OSTRICHES DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 by April Dávila
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2470-0
ISBN-10: 1-4967-2470-4
First Kensington Trade Paperback Edition: March 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-2471-7 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-4967-2471-2 (ebook)
Kensington Electronic Edition: March 2020
For Daniel
if I were to leave this desert
who would cherish transparent
light who would nurse broken stones
who would mother the cold
—Richard Shelton
ONE
Four days before the ostriches stopped laying eggs, Grandma Helen died in an accident that wasn’t really an accident. It was a Sunday, when almost everyone was in church, when the only other trucks on Route 66 were bigger than hers, their immense grilles roaring toward her, then escaping one after another, until a tomato trailer out of Sacramento proved too enticing.
She had nowhere to be, no appointment to keep, no need that would require a drive through the heat of the Mojave in July. She hadn’t called up the stairs to ask if I needed anything from town. The last thing I heard