For a first novel, Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg is quite brilliant. It is set during a long drought in the Arizona desert and there are two main characters here, Katherine, (referred to only as Girl or Darling or Daughter) and the landscape itself.

Katherine marries Son when she is only 17 and they live together in the old adobe house with his parents on Old Border Road. She soon finds she is spending most of her time with her father in law-Rose’s Daddy-as Son is off drinking and womanizing most nights. The novel is Katherine’s own coming of age story, within the confines of this new life she finds herself in. The lanscape and the weather are central to the story and the climax comes with the huge storm that finally ends the drought, just as Katherine is discovering what it is she truly wants.

The language Froderberg uses is lyrical, poetic and even at times Biblical. We are drawn so deeply into the setting that I felt as if I had red dust under my fingernails and I could almost feel the heat. There were times however when I felt almost tired reading this book. It is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, but not quite there yet. Still, a masterful and original first novel, well worth reading.