All These Deep Arroyos - by Matt Baca (Hardcover)

About the Book

"All These Deep Arroyos pulled me into the desert and then swept me away. What a gorgeous, consuming, and indelible novel."-Rachel Khong

"This story of two brothers, of the different choices they make and the different lives they lead, kept me turning the pages right to the end."-Karen Joy Fowler

Book Synopsis

"All These Deep Arroyos pulled me into the desert and then swept me away. What a gorgeous, consuming, and indelible novel."-Rachel Khong

"This story of two brothers, of the different choices they make and the different lives they lead, kept me turning the pages right to the end."-Karen Joy Fowler

Before he's sentenced to prison, Robin lives a hard, dried-out life in an adobe casita among the yuccas and cholla cactuses in the desierto alto, New Mexico's high desert. But he also knows tenderness and love because of his traditional abuelos who raise him. And because of Cristina, a brilliant, fiercely independent girl from the Laguna Pueblo who insists she will be a scientist. Who insists Robin will be someone too. With her.

But just as Robin and Cristina start new lives in colleges far from home, they're ripped apart. Robin is arrested and sentenced to federal prison because he's fallen into one of his twin brother's schemes. And because someone has died.

Now, seven years into Robin's prison sentence, as Cristina has found new love, someone is secretly trying to free Robin. Someone-Robin can't guess who-is working in the judge's chambers, risking everything for Robin and Cristina, even as the prosecutor and the judge become increasingly suspicious. All because once, in the desierto alto, Robin and Cristina saved this friend first.

Review Quotes

"All These Deep Arroyos pulled me into the desert and then swept me away. What a gorgeous, consuming, and indelible novel, overflowing with the best of what novels can do. Matt Baca is a craftsman, writing elegantly and powerfully about life, death, and forgiveness, by way of characters who feel as real as family. This debut is a feat, and a gift. I loved this book." --Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of REAL AMERICANS

"This story of two brothers, of the different choices they make and the different lives they lead, kept me turning the pages right to the end. With great characters, a vivid sense of place, a compelling plot, and an assured narrative voice, this is a very impressive debut." --Karen Joy Fowler, author of THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB and BOOTH

"In All These Deep Arroyos, Matt Baca has crafted a beautiful and stirring debut novel that sings with the winds of the high desert. Told with heart and unflinching empathy, it is a glorious addition to the literature of Southern Colorado and New Mexico." --Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of WOMAN OF LIGHT

"Matt Baca is a brilliant stylist and his first novel is a tour de force of friendship, love, and obsession." --Elizabeth McKenzie, author of THE PORTABLE VEBLEN

"All These Deep Arroyos is the story of a secret America. Of the tender, willfully resilient children of the desert. In short, It's a killer." --Erika T. Wurth, author of WHITE HORSE

"Matt Baca's elegant yet poignant coming-of-age story is deeply rooted in Rudolfo Anaya's beloved New Mexico with all its beauty and heartbreak. This debut novel establishes Baca as an important and authentic chronicler of life in the high desert. Bravo!" --Daniel A. Olivas, author of CHICANO FRANKENSTEIN

About the Author

Matt Baca is an attorney and the executive director of Colorado Legal Services, Colorado's statewide legal aid program. Originally from Albuquerque he has rural New Mexico family roots. His short fiction has appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review and in Southwest Review, where it won that journal's McGinnis-Ritchie Award, and his humor writing has appeared on McSweeney's Internet Tendency among other places. He is a member of the Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors. He lives in Denver, Colorado with his family.