Publishers Weekly
01/27/2020
In Davila’s vivid, uplifting debut, a free-spirited woman navigates her obligations to a dysfunctional family. Tallulah Jones, 24, works at her grandmother Helen’s ostrich ranch in the California desert while planning to follow her dream of joining the Forest Service in Montana. After Helen’s suspicious death in a car accident, estranged family members gather at her funeral, including meth-addicted Uncle Steve, who is furious that Helen left the ranch to Tallulah. With a buyer for the ranch, Tallulah looks forward to Montana, until Laura, the nomadic and alcoholic mother she hasn’t seen since she was 13, shows up wanting a share of Helen’s estate and threatens to contest the will. Tallulah finds comfort in caring for the ostriches, but then they mysteriously stop laying eggs. As Tallulah gets help with the animals from a sympathetic local while fighting the volatile Steve and riding out Laura’s demands, she reconsiders her future. Davila’s breezy, elegant prose captures the desert’s growing appeal to Tallulah (“Finally, the sun cleared the horizon and blasted everything with its full light”; “There wouldn’t be mornings like this in Montana”). The fascinating details of operating an ostrich ranch elevate this family tale. Agent: Joel Gotler and Murray Weiss, Intellectual Property Group. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Tolstoy probably never envisioned an unhappy family which included ostriches, but these fine feathered beasts nearly steal the heart of this humane and heartfelt debut novel. Davila's protagonist Tallulah must navigate that most fundamental of choices: should I stay or should I go? Anyone who has ever felt the insistent tug of Somewhere Else doing battle with the responsibilities of their Here and Now will find something of themselves in these fine pages.”
—Mark Sarvas, author of Memento Park
“An engrossing and original tale of love, betrayal, and extremely large birds, April Dávila's 142 Ostriches is a novel that blooms like springtime in the California desert. Fiercely independent, brave, and tender, Tallulah Jones is a heroine for our time.”
—Seth Greenland, author of The Hazards of Good Fortune
“Vividly imagined and deeply felt, 142 Ostriches is an utterly absorbing tale of an intrepid young woman coming of age in the California desert. I loved Davila’s big-hearted debut about land, family, and the ties that bind. Highly recommended.”
—Lindsey Lee Johnson, author of The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
“142 Ostriches is unlike anything I’ve read before. Wholly unique, this cinematic novel exposes readers to the relatively unknown industry of ostrich farming. In Davila’s skillful hands, the desert comes alive and the ostriches are as compelling as the human characters. Tallulah herself is a memorable, strong-willed protagonist. Her struggle to negotiate family obligations with her own desires feels both singular and highly relatable. I loved following her through the pages of this fast-paced and lovely novel.”
—Amy Meyerson, author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays
“April Davila has made the rare thing: The perfect meeting of plot and character. A hurtling adventure of family intrigue helmed by a heroine for the ages, Davila's novel will make your heart swell as big as an ostrich egg, and then hatch it.”
—Katie Williams, author of Tell The Machine Goodnight
“Davila’s observant prose conjures the drama of sun-scorched days and the calm of cool painted evenings as it chronicles the struggles and rewards of a rugged life in the vast Mohave. This is a story that envelops you with a sense of place, and uses its setting to reveal how the human heart, like wildflowers after a rampaging storm, can thrive in the harshest conditions. It is a tale as surprising and delightful as a profusion of florid color in the sandy stretches of the California desert.”
—Yvonne Puig, author of A Wife of Nobel Character
“142 Ostriches, April Davila’s utterly unique novel, nails the Zeitgeist when she inherits a Death Valley bird ranch she’d hoped to escape. An avian Greek chorus, the birds seem to observe and share her longing to stand in a place of my own choosing. With unsentimental acuity, her narrator confronts the intangible covenant foisted upon her, and the reality that the disposal of her flock, from nature to product, is by no means a matter just for the birds.”
—Rita Williams, author of If the Creek Don’t Rise
“An unusual ranching tale set in the Mojave Desert, where the herd is a flock of eight foot tall birds and their wrangler a young woman raised by her gruff grandmother who dreams of another kind of life. A twisty, warmhearted story of family, community and fate, a thoroughgoing delight.”
—Janet Fitch, author of The Revolution of Marina M and Chimes of a Lost Cathedral
“Compelling and beautifully written — you need to read this book.”
—Erin La Rosa, author of The Big Redhead Book and Womanskills
Library Journal - Audio
05/01/2020
Running an ostrich ranch in the unforgiving California desert is not how Tallulah Jones wants to spend the rest of her life. She's helped her grandmother run the ranch since she was 13 years old, but she's finally ready to forge her own path and leave the Mohave Desert. When her grandmother unexpectedly dies, leaving her the ranch, Tallulah decides that she's going to sell the ranch even though it's the last thing her grandmother would have wanted. Unfortunately for Tallulah, that's when the ostriches mysteriously stop laying eggs and some unexpected relatives come to town. She must navigate not only her own emotions but those of her fragile and complicated family (birds and all). Sarah Mollo-Christensen's brilliant narration deftly conveys the emotions of all the family members with ease and authority. VERDICT Fraught with family struggles, addiction, duplicity, and deceit, this courageous coming-of-age story set in a unique and wonderful backdrop is one that listeners won't soon forget.—Erin Cataldi, Johnson Cty. P.L., Franklin, IN
