Under the Desert Sky

Luck’s turn-of-the-20th-century romance about an Afrikaaner and an Arizona ostrich farmer is a tender aw-shucks tale. Widow and mother Phoebe Sloan is struggling to make ends meet on the ostrich farm that she talked her husband into buying. He’s gone, her in-laws hold her responsible for the farm’s failure, and her brother-in-law, Frank, is doing his best to subvert her efforts. When single, handsome Christian De Wet escorts some birds from Cape Town to a neighboring Maricopa County farmer, he meets Phoebe and is immediately smitten. It doesn’t hurt that Will, Phoebe’s four-year-old son, latches on to “Wet” as a substitute father. Ostriches are mean cusses, but Christian pitches in to help, and before long he finds his way to Phoebe’s heart. Luck’s story comes alive with likable characters playing against a backdrop of colorful Arizona Territory panoramas and topical political references. (Apr.)