From debut author Victoria Miluch comes the riveting story of a girl on the cusp of womanhood living in an arid wasteland and the encounter with two outsiders that upends her understanding of the world beyond it. Only the most hardened survivalists can endure living in the scorched deadlands of the former state of Arizona. Among them is nineteen-year-old Georgia Reno, who lives in an isolated desert settlement with her father and younger brother. Roads don't exist here; visitors are more dark fairy tale than reality. But when two mysterious strangers arrive on their land, Georgia begins to question her sheltered existence. Soon, her tentative curiosity blooms into a fledgling desire to leave the settlement, even if it means venturing into a world her father has only ever warned against. As their tenuous situation deteriorates, Georgia uncovers secrets about the visitors that could threaten her family's fragile existence in the desert. But to leave the newcomers at the hands of her father could put everyone's lives at risk-and force Georgia into an impossible decision. Welcome to the deadlands, where survival is never guaranteed...and loyalty is put to the ultimate test.

About the Author
Victoria Miluch is a fiction writer and translator whose work has appeared in journals such as Passages North, Southeast Review, Asymptote, and Arkansas International. She is the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship and has served as a Peace Corps volunteer. Born in San Francisco and raised in Arizona, she currently lives outside of Washington, DC, with her family.

Reviews
"Atmospheric and enthralling, Deadlands is a gorgeously rendered portrait of young womanhood in a world inhospitable to young women. Miluch explores the delicate ecosystem of an isolated family against the backdrop of a dying planet riddled with unlivable deadlands. She expertly conjures up a sense of creeping, claustrophobic dread while also telling a story that feels as expansive and evocative as the desert itself. A beautiful, blazing debut." -Alison Wisdom, author of The Burning Season "I read this book in one sitting, totally gripped by the tense dance between family members and outsiders stranded together in a lethal landscape. The desert and the people in this novel are sources of both sustenance and threat in this suspenseful story where every character has their own voice, their own agenda, and their own secrets to keep." -Caitlin Horrocks, author of Life Among the Terranauts "Deadlands is a profound and exquisitely written debut, a fresh exploration of how we are changed by the truths we unearth. Just as our narrator Georgia thinks of the arid landscape, the novel 'shines with a newness, a dangerous edge of possibility, sharp as a whetted knife.' Miluch is an extraordinary new talent." -Peter Kispert, author of I Know You Know Who I Am



Book Information
ISBN 9781662511288
Author Victoria Miluch
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Lake Union Publishing
Publisher Amazon Publishing