Death Valley Broder Melissa (2023)

A woman arrives alone at a Best Western, seeking relief from an emptiness that torments her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow surrounding both her father in intensive care and her husband, whose illness is worsening. The motel offers no peace, however, but a path forward, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike. On the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape should not exist in California. Yet it stands there, with a gash in its side beckoning like a familiar door. She steps inside, and what awaits her within the mystical succulent begins a journey that is desolate yet rich, hilarious yet poignant. This darkly funny novel about grief becomes an extraordinary desert survival story, following a woman through an experience unlike any other.