In 2012, Claire Vaye Watkins burst onto the literary landscape with her prize-winning short story collection, Battleborn. In Gold Fame Citrus, Watkins follows through on her literary promise with an excellent novel, set in a drought-ridden California in a future that feels alarmingly near.

Gold Fame Citrus is the story of Luz, a woman born when California was merely on the cusp of collapse but who must make her way in a world where the waters have run dry and the borders into more verdant parts of the country are blocked off to people of her provenance, so-called "Mojavs." Along with a drifter named Ray, Luz has managed to carve out an existence in the arid remnants of a place that once glittered, and the two have learned to get by however they can. When they become guardians to an enigmatic slip of a child, however, Luz's desiccated dreams of what life once was and, perhaps, could some day be again, gush forth. For the sake of their family, they decide to brave the ever-encroaching dune sea, a desolate shifting stretch of sand that separates them from a more habitable climate. But the wasteland they have been led to believe is barren is far from empty and contains untold hazards—some physical, some spiritual, some psychological.

There is no shortage of dystopian literature examining the destruction to the planet that man has wrought and humankind's tenacious will to survive, but Gold Fame Citrus easily catapults itself into the upper echelon of the genre. Deeply evocative and emotional, Watkins' writing is hypnotic, drawing readers into a fevered lullaby that feels fantastical and all-too-real simultaneously. This is the kind of novel that readers will want to consume in great gulps as they race to discover Luz and company's fate, but Gold Fame Citrus is best read slowly, allowing the words to wash over you.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Winner of the 2015 National Book Award, Adam Johnson's Fortune Smiles is a first-rate collection of short stories that explores timeless topics such as relationships, politics, sacrifice and love, treating them in ways that feel specific and fresh. In "Nirvana," a techie finds a unique way to cope with his sick wife—by developing an app that allows users to talk to the president of the United States. The main character of "Hurricanes Anonymous" tries to locate the mother of his son in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine" tells the story of a former Stasi prison official who is trying—unsuccessfully—to escape the past. The six narratives in this wide-ranging collection are enlivened by the author's sense of black humor and evident compassion for the human condition. Johnson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2012 novel The Orphan Master's Son, delivers a smart batch of stories that's sure to get book groups talking.

HIGH AND DRY
In her debut novel, Gold Fame Citrus, Claire Vaye Watkins offers a chilling dystopian look at a drought-ravaged future. In barren Los Angeles, erstwhile model Luz Dunn keeps company with surfer Ray Hollis, a former soldier. They camp out in the deserted home of a movie star, ignoring orders for mandatory evacuation and surviving on plundered rations. Despite their grim prospects, the two fall in love, and when they take an abandoned child into their fold, they're determined to create a more promising future. Taking to the road, they search for a desert commune founded by water finder and survivalist Levi Zabriskie. But the going is filled with difficulties, including looters, evacuation enforcers and the hardships imposed by the landscape itself. Watkins presents an unforgettable portrait of California as an oasis-turned-waste-land, and her prose style is marked by a haunting poeticism. A timely narrative that's certain to resonate with readers, this is a remarkably accomplished first novel from a visionary writer. 

TOP PICK FOR BOOK CLUBS
Geraldine Brooks delivers another expertly wrought historical novel with The Secret Chord, a compelling retelling of the life and times of King David of the Bible. Chronicling David's rise, from his early days as a shepherd to his ascension to the throne of Israel, the novel brings to vivid life many Old Testament characters, including David's wife Batsheva and son Solomon. The tale is narrated by Natan, a shepherd and prophet who predicts a dark future for the king. Brooks presents David as a man of contrasts—at once wise and impulsive, gentle and savage, humble and arrogant. She demonstrates an expert command of her historical material, presenting a full-bodied account of the legendary leader. Brooks' many fans will find the novel a worthy companion to her previous historical narratives, which include People of the Book and the Pulitzer-Prize winning March.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Watkins's debut story collection, Battleborn, won her the 2013 Story Prize, the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, a National Book Award Best 5 Under 35 salute, and more. Her debut novel is set in a near-future Southern California so dried out that the resident "Mojavs" have mostly allowed themselves to be evacuated to internment camps—they're forbidden from freely seeking out greener pastures. Luz and Ray, resisters who squat in a starlet's crumbing mansion, find their love flourishing as they scrounge what they can and eventually adopt a mysterious child. But they're being tracked by a threatening cult leader and his flock. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

In a not-too-distant future, the nation is in the grip of an ecological disaster. Plagued by severe water shortages, the residents of California (already dwindling in number) are subjected to a forced evacuation. Luz, a former model who spent her childhood as the government's poster child for the oncoming crisis, is hiding out in a starlet's abandoned mansion in Laurel Canyon with her competent companion Ray, who has recently gone AWOL from the U.S. military. After rescuing, or possibly kidnapping, a neglected toddler from a criminal gang, they attempt to flee the lawless frontier for what they hope will be greener pastures inland. When their plans fall apart, Luz comes under the sway of the charismatic leader of an outpost in the desert, who, like many so-called prophets, might not be what he seems. In her powerful depictions of the scorched and merciless landscape, Watkins realizes a genuine nostalgia for our lost living world, and the American West in particular. VERDICT This debut novel (after Watkins's multiaward-winning story collection, Battleborn) follows a recent spate of similarly disturbing ecodystopias. Yet, with its damaged and complicated heroine and multiple voices, shifting perspectives, and unconventional narrative devices, it is a wholly original work. [See Prepub Alert, 4/13/15.]—Lauren Gilbert, Sachem P.L., Holbrook, NY

It's the near future: water is running out and a vast sand dune that covers whole towns is growing. Los Angeles is empty except for the hippies, survivalists, and grifters who've evaded the government-mandated evacuation. Ex-model Luz Dunn is on her way out of L.A. when she meets Ray, a soldier fresh from the "forever war." After taking in a toddler, they head for a rumored desert settlement—no simple task given the oppressive heat, gas and water shortages, and border guards. In her first novel, Watkins, a native Nevadan whose story collection Battleborn (which won multiple awards) was also set in the West, makes canny use of the region's history and myths, the way it's been shaped by dreamers (explorers, prospectors, Mormons, would-be starlets, Okies), and the limits of its water supply. Luz and Ray's story is the heart of the book, but Watkins adds an array of documents and voices depicting a West that provides nuclear-waste storage (and radioactivity) and "gold, fame, citrus"—as well as racism and government-controlled resource management. She's alive to the powerful pull of romantics, cultists, and saviors; with Levi Zabriskie—a master dowser, naturalist, conspiracy theorist, and leader of a desert community—in particular she's added a memorable character to their roster. The book is packed with persuasive detail, luminous writing, and a grasp of the history (popular, political, natural, and imagined) needed to tell a story that is original yet familiar, strange yet all too believable. Agent: Nicole Aragi, the Aragi Agency. (Sept.)