Church of the Graveyard Saints

The landscape looms large in this contemplative novel from Greaves (Hard Twisted). Elaborate and poetic descriptions of Cortez, Colo., dictate an unhurried pace and reflect the core of the novel. Addie Decker left the town for college in Los Angeles and fell in love with museums and classical music and academia, none of which she had been exposed to back home. She never really wanted to return, having fallen in love with L.A., but she goes back for the funeral of her grandmother Vivian. Addie brings her laid-back lover Bradley Sommers, who heads the university’s Center for Climate Change and has never seen the rugged West. Two complications make Addie’s plan of a quick visit problematic: she has inherited Vivian’s beloved Red Rocks Ranch, and the reportedly nefarious Archer-Mason corporation has designs on the entire region and wants to acquire Red Rocks. These developments raise the stakes but don’t obscure the novel’s central question: can one go home again? Greaves explores this question with both passion and compassion, taking readers on a lyrical, vivid tour of the West. (Sept.)