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July 25, 2007
posted by David Meigs at 7/25/2007 12:01:00 AM


TO DANCE IN THE DESERT (RiverOak), by Kathleen Popa, is the wooing of a broken-heart, rejuvenated to the splendor of life. Definitely, one of the best written novels I have read in a long time, it often forced me to stop and say, WOW! It will for you too.

TO DANCE IN THE DESERT, has earned my highest recommendation.

Well done Katy! Bravo!



From the back cover:

“Not a safe world.” How many times had she heard it over and over again? Well, it wasn’t a safe world and Dara Murphy Brogan knew it better than most, which is exactly why she had tucked herself away on a desert mountaintop. Now it was just her, the voice inside her head, and the boxes of hastily packed odds and ends—all that was left of her pathetic excuse for a life. Hadn’t she chosen the desert because it was barren and brown and dead looking and far, far away from anyone who may have seen the news?

So what was this, this trespasser, this interloper, this whacked-out earth mother doing dancing outside her window? Celebrating life and the Spirit in a way Dara could never dreamed. Until she opened her door and met Jane Cameron.



Author’s Bio: Kathleen Popa grew up in the deserts of Arizona and Nevada where she learned to love the uncluttered beauty of the American Southwest. After fifteen years in California’s Silicon Valley, she now lives with her husband and youngest son in a small mining town in the high desert of Northern California, in a century-old, book-cluttered Victorian house, where she feels very much at home.


She keeps a blog for writers and book lovers, titled Reading, Writing, and… What Else Is There? To learn more about her first novel, To Dance in the Desert, visit her website .


Endorsements:
.

."A book that makes me laugh is a joy, a book that makes me cry is a rarity.But a book that moves me to dance is sublime. To Dance in theDesert is a spectacular experience. Beautifully written, deeply moving,and warmly engaging—that this is Kathleen Popa’s first novel astoundsme. That she will quickly be counted among the top caliber of Christiannovelists delights me. I simply loved this book."
Kathryn Mackel, Author of The Hidden

"Kathleen Popa creates a compelling vision of a small community’spower to coax waning spirits back toward life. This gem of a novelworked on me like a dream. Popa’s evocative prose captured the nuanceand complexity of transformation with equal parts mystery and truth.She conjures the deserts of Dara Brogan’s life with intimate clarity,reminding us along the way of the profound strength of what we takefar too much for granted—the deep friendship of kindred spirits. This isa journey worth taking."
Jeff Berryman, Author of Leaving Ruin

"Kathleen Popa’s crystal prose captures the desert southwest like aGeorgia O’Keeffe painting. Her characters, at once unique and familiar,dance. She shows us a desert of the heart, and then, with wisdom andinsight, shows us how to make it bloom."
W. Dale Cramer, Author of Bad Ground and Levi’s Will

"Every so often a new writer comes along with a distinctive and imaginativevoice. Kathleen Popa is just such a writer. Her take on relationshipsbetween her unique characters and God as well as with each other isoriginal, vivid, and real. To Dance in the Desert is simply wonderful."
Gayle Roper, Author of Caught in the Act and Allah’s Fire

"There is magic in Popa’s words; a quiet kind beauty that casts the samespell as a desert sunset with its lingering afterglow."
Siri L. Mitchell, Author of Chateau of Echoes



Read the first chapter


Pick up a copy at Amazon
 



1 Comments:


At Thursday, July 26, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous

Thank you, David, for your kind comments. I'm so glad you liked it.