DESERT PROPHETS

Ringwood’s debut historical novel follows a family through years of unpredictable marriages, seedy business ventures, and two major wars.

Caroline Jones and Newt Cisco marry in 1937, apparently more out of convenience than love; it gives them an excuse to leave Iowa to find better jobs in California. Caroline also wants a baby but has difficulty getting pregnant, and adoption agencies believe the 30-something couple are too old. Her then-unprecedented solution is to employ a surrogate mother: 18-year-old Lydia Amos, who’s renting a room in their apartment. Part of this deal involves Lydia later getting a Las Vegas custodial job, which sends her to Newt’s brother, Festus. As it turns out, the Cisco siblings dabble in shady activities; Newt and Festus are experienced bookies, and the latter runs a sex-work business. Lydia becomes more deeply connected with the Ciscos when she and Festus’ son, Joe, fall for each other. As the years pass, marriages in the family thrive and collapse, often affected by world events, including World War II and the conflict in Vietnam. Lives are lost as well, leaving a few to cope with grief and others to move on, unencumbered. Ringwood’s decadeslong tale is dense with character detail and subplots. Caroline and Newt, for example, open the novel with similarly grim backstories, as both were suspected of murdering their previous spouses. The narrative teems with gleeful melodramatic turns, including affairs, hidden bundles of cash, and another Cisco (ex-convict Cleve) joining the story in an unusual way. Many of the characters are flawed, and not all are likable; some are notably hateful or self-centered. Nevertheless, their shared journeys are consistently engaging even when the work spins off on tangents, as when one person who dates a Cisco undergoes a grueling Army tour. Ringwood maintains a tight narrative throughout—sometimes too tight, cramming long dialogue exchanges into single paragraphs. It wraps up with a satisfyingly open ending.

An absorbing, profound look at tumultuous American lives.