When a teenager runs away from his father's mysterious commune, he sets in motion a domino effect that connects a cast of six characters who narrate Wonder Valley.

There's Ren, just out of juvie, who travels to LA in search of his mother. There's Owen and James, teenage twins who live in a desert commune, where their father, a self-proclaimed healer, holds a powerful sway over his disciples. There's Britt, who shows up at the commune harbouring a dark secret. There's Tony, a bored and unhappy lawyer who is inspired by the runner. And there's Blake, a drifter hiding in the desert, doing his best to fight off his most violent instincts.

Their lives will all intertwine and come crashing together in a shocking way, one that could only happen in this enchanting, dangerous city.

About the Author

Ivy Pochoda is a novelist and writer, previously a world ranked squash player. Her novel Visitation Street was chosen as an Amazon Best Book of 2013 and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and won the 2018 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel.

She has written for a number of outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Huffington Post. She teaches creative writing at the Lamp Arts Studio in Skid Row.

Reviews

'Pochoda is a master at homing in on the details of both exterior and interior landscapes and crafting characters so palpable that you can feel blood throbbing in their temples and rivulets of sweat evaporating off their necks.'

https://bookpage.com/reviews/21918-ivy-pochoda-wonder-valley#.XWffZehKjIW

-- Thane Tierney * Bookpage *

'Wonder Valley is an epic novel told on a personal level . . . Each of the characters in this novel resonates with traits familiar to all readers, and yet every one of them is a unique individual . . . By focusing on those at the fringes of society, Pochoda effectively examines both the flaws and perfections of humanity at large.'

http://bolobooks.com/2017/11/wonder-valley-the-bolo-books-review/

-- Kristopher * BOLO Books *

'Pochoda's novel is compelling . . . the author's skill creates an experience of total immersion'

-- Lisa Alexander and Julia Lichtblau * The Common *

'It's a California novel through and through: a collection of character studies drenched in enough sunlight to illuminate the harshest of truth . . . The ending is magnificently unexpected, almost ingenious, and the surprise factor sneaks up on you.'

https://ew.com/booksThe Common - Lisa Alexander and Julia Lichtblau 26th January 2018 'Pochoda's novel is compelling . . . the author's skill creates an experience of total immersion'

-- David Canfield * Entertainment Weekly *

'a dizzying, kaleidoscopic thriller that refuses to let readers look away from the dark side of Southern California.'

https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-wonder-valley-pochoda-20171110-story.html

-- Michael Schaub * The Los Angeles Times *

'an ode to the misunderstood parts (and people) of California'

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/ivy-pochodas-wonder-valley-ode-misunderstood-parts-people-california

-- Jane Gavduk * Interview magazine *

'In Wonder Valley, everything is fully realized. Especially the characters-first defined against the running man-and the setting-a portrait of Southern California that's attentive to the harrowing issues of race and class but never embraces cynicism.'

https://brooklynrail.org/2017/12/books/Structures-in-Service-to-WonderIvy-PochodasWonder-Valley-Harper-Collins-2017

-- Michael Natalie * The Brooklyn Rail *

Genre Be Damned: Smith Henderson interviews Ivy Pochoda

'a gripping, gritty, and deeply humane novel of flights and collisions, rich with the profound mistakes and redemptive urges of a wonderfully interlinked cast of characters'

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/genre-be-damned/

* The Los Angeles Review of Books *

'Pochoda's novel is compelling . . . the author's skill creates an experience of total immersion'

http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/bookreview/wonder-valley-a-novel

-- Fatima Azam * Washington Independent *

'Slowly, and with skill, Pochoda brings these characters together in a melancholy tale of people who have been bruised and abused by life . . . Pochoda gifts each of her characters with a rounded backstory and a sense of dignity that their circumstances have denied them.'

http://bookoxygen.com/?p=7999

-- Shirley Whiteside * Book Oxygen *


Awards
Winner of Strand Magazine Critics Award for Best Novel 2018.



Book Information
ISBN 9781999683344
Author Ivy Pochoda
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint The Indigo Press
Publisher The Indigo Press
Weight(grams) 317g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 138mm * 21mm