Kathleen Popa's crystal prose captures the desert southwest like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting. Her characters, at once unique and familiar, dance. She shows us a desert of the heart, and then, with wisdom and insight, shows us how to make it bloom.
Dale Cramer, Author of Bad Ground and Levi's Will
Every so often a new writer comes along with a distinctive and imaginative voice. Kathleen Popa is just such a writer. Her take on relationships between her unique characters as well as the relationships between her characters and God is original, vivid, and real. To Dance in the Desert is simply wonderful.
Gayle Roper, Author of Caught in the Act and Allah's Fire
There is magic in Popa’s words; a quiet kind beauty that casts the same spell as a desert sunset with its lingering afterglow.
Siri L. Mitchell, Author of Chateau of Echoes
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"It's not a safe world," he had told her again and again, and she had learned, and kept her distance from it.
Well, it is not a safe world and Dara Murphy Brogan knew it better than most, which is exactly why she had tucked herself away in a back-roads desert valley. Hadn’t she chosen this valley because it was far, far away from anyone who may have seen the news? So what was this, this trespasser, this interloper, this whacked-out earth mother doing dancing outside her window? Celebrating life and the Spirit in a way Dara never could have dreamed. Until she opened her door and met Jane Cameron.
I'm glad you stopped by...
I grew up mostly* in the Great Basin, Mohave, and Sonoran deserts of Arizona and Nevada, and I know that desert wind has its own sound, a sound that flings open the doors of your soul.
That reads like I'm still writing my novel doesn't it? The rough draft of my novel.
But I mean it: there's nothing like a desert wind. It starts at the crest of some mountain perhaps fifteen miles distant, rushes across the broad expanse and sweeps right into you. Nothing in the world feels more free, or more clean.
Should I tell you about the desert rain? About the way it smells like the fragrance of... sand, or maybe like air would smell if it had a scent of its own. The way lightening crackles best where it has room to move, and in the desert it has miles and miles.
Best of all, there's something about looking out across vast distances of nothing at all that makes you feel that your life is uncluttered, that things are simple, that things will work out.
I tell you this so you'll know that when I write about the wind in my novel, and the rain, and the broad stretch of plain, I mean what I say.
I used to love to drive out of town (always try to live where "out of town" is five minutes away) just to sit on the hood of my car and listen to the wind, and smell the air, and... declutter, I guess.
Then I got married, and lived for fifteen years in California’s Silicon Valley - amazing what you'll do for love. I now live with my husband and youngest son in a small mining town in the high desert of Northern California. I feel very much at home.
And I write. To Dance in the Desert is my first novel, and I'd be pleased to have you read the first chapter while you're here.
The book is available now by the way, and you can find the best online price on my Buy the Book page. If you've thought of someone who might also enjoy To Dance in the Desert, please pass the word.
I'd also love to have you sign up for my newsletter so I can inform you of special promotions and events, and not spam you. I promise.
Also, please stop in at the blog I keep for writers and book lovers, titled Reading, Writing, and… What Else Is There?
Again, thanks for stopping by.
Kathleen Popa
*Does "I grew up mostly" mean that I mostly grew up, or that I did it mostly in the desert? I don't know.
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A book that makes me laugh is a joy, a book that makes me cry is a rarity. But a book that moves me to dance is sublime. To Dance in the Desert is a spectacular experience. Beautifully written, deeply moving, and warmly engaging—that this is Kathleen Popa’s first novel astounds me. That she will quickly be counted among the top caliber of Christian novelists delights me. I simply loved this book.
Kathryn Mackel, Author of The Hidden
Kathleen Popa creates a compelling vision of a small community’s power to coax waning spirits back toward life. This gem of a novel worked on me like a dream. Popa’s evocative prose captured the nuance and complexity of transformation with equal parts mystery and truth. She conjures the deserts of Dara Brogan’s life with intimate clarity, reminding us along the way of the profound strength of what we take far too much for granted—the deep friendship of kindred spirits. This is a journey worth taking.
Jeff Berryman, Author of Leaving Ruin
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