Author Event – Phyllis Barber
September 11, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Details
Local author of The Desert Between Us speaks about their sweeping, multi-layered fictional narrative about the Gold Rush routes. This event is part of the Utah Humanities Book Festival and will take place on the library patio. Refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Park City Library.
Utah Humanities Book Festival is Utah’s oldest & only statewide book festival & Utah’s signature literary event. Visit UtahHumanities.org for all statewide events.
Library events that are planned in person may change due to possible COVID-19 updates. See the Library’s calendar for any changes.
About the book:
2020 Reading the West Book Awards, Longlist for Fiction
2020 Association for Mormon Letters Finalist, Fiction
The Desert Between Us is a sweeping, multi-layered novel based on the U.S. government’s decision to open more routes to California during the Gold Rush. To help navigate this waterless, largely unexplored territory, the War Department imported seventy-five camels from the Middle East to help traverse the brutal terrain that was murderous on other livestock.
Geoffrey Scott, one of the roadbuilders, decides to venture north to discover new opportunities in the opening of the American West when he—and the camels—are no longer needed. Geoffrey arrives in St. Thomas, Nevada, a polygamous settlement caught up in territorial fights over boundaries and new taxation. There, he falls in love with Sophia Hughes, a hat maker obsessed with beauty and the third wife of a polygamist. Geoffrey believes Sophia wants to be free of polygamy and go away with him to a better life, but Sophia’s motivations are not so easily understood. She had become committed to Mormon beliefs in England and had moved to Utah Territory to assuage her spiritual needs. The death of Sophia’s child and her illicit relationship with Geoffrey generate a complex nexus where her new love for Geoffrey competes with societal expectations and a rugged West seeking domesticity. When faced with the opportunity to move away from her polygamist husband and her tumultuous life in St. Thomas, Sophia becomes tormented by a life-changing decision she must face alone.
Date: September 11, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Venue
- Park City Library
-
1255 Park Avenue
Park City, Utah 84060 + Google Map