Description
By: Edna Brush Perkins (1880-1930)
The White Heart of Mojave by Edna Brush Perkins is a beautifully written, captivating novel that transports readers to the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert. The author’s vivid descriptions bring the landscape to life, making it feel like its own character in the story. The characters are richly drawn and their emotional journeys are compelling to follow.
The story weaves together themes of love, loss, and the power of nature in a way that is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant. Perkins’ prose is lyrical and poetic, drawing the reader in and immersing them in the world she has created.
Overall, The White Heart of Mojave is a powerful and poignant read that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a beautifully written and evocative novel.
Book Description:
“The White Heart of the Mojave” recounts a 1920’s adventure “in the wind and sun and big spaces” of Death Valley by two independent minded women, Edna Brush Perkins and Charlotte Hannahs Jordan. Both women were early feminists, Edna as chairwoman of the greater Cleveland Woman’s Suffrage Party (1916-18). At the end of the Great War, the two friends wanted nothing more than to escape “to the solitariness of some wild and lonely place far from city halls, smokestacks, national organizations, and streets of little houses all alike.” Their vacation started as a long motor drive through the backwoods of California (Charlotte’s husband, Ned, owned the Jordan Motor Car Company). It ended with a month long trek through Death Valley in an old milk wagon drawn by a horse and a mule. Edna’s descriptions of the desert are superb and from the heart–the dunes “were very beautiful, with knife-edged tops ridged in pure, clean lines from which fringes of fine sand blew up like the wind tossed manes of white horses.” This is a great listen for anyone who likes first-hand accounts of adventure in the Great Outdoors.
