This is a sweeping novel that covers a family saga in Owens Valley, CA from the turn of the 20th century to post WWII. Rockwell Rhodes (Rocky) falls in love with and settles in the verdant valley as a way to escape his overbearing millionaire father in New York. Shortly thereafter, Teddy Roosevelt turns the land over to the Los Angeles water authority which siphons the water away from the once agrarian landscape turning into desert. Thus begins Rocky's life long pursuit of water for the valley.
Then the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor initiates the creation of the Japanese internment camps and the introduction of Schiff, a Jewish lawyer who works for the war department. He is to create and supervise the Manzanar internment camp adjacent to Rocky's property.
There are at least three love stories in this saga: the one between Rocky and his wife who has died from polio at the start of the novel, the one between Schiff and Sunny (Rocky's daughter), and between Cass (Rocky's twin sister) and Lyndon Finn.
This is the kind of novel that you can inhabit and become homesick for once you finish the story. Added to the story itself, is the story of its creation when the author, Marianne Wiggins, suffered a massive stroke before the novel was completed. Her daughter worked diligently and enlisted the help of others to complete the story without changing the voice of the novel. ( )

A family living in the desert of Southern California experience Pearl Harbor and the build up of World War II. Then the federal government moves in to set up a Japanese internment camp. ( )

You can’t save what you don’t love.
from Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins

Rocky’s inherited wealth could have meant an easy life on the East Coast. But after his father’s death, he headed West, determined to make his own way in the world. He built the ranch himself. It wasn’t like Waldon’s Pond, the retreat for his inspiration Thoreau, but he had the open sky and the wildness and the Sierras on the horizon, and he had found God in the land.

Then, President Theodore Roosevelt signed away the water rights to the L. A. Water Authority. It made possible the city’s growth, but the lake dried up and turned to toxic dust. Rocky fought for the land, determined to save what he loved. Caught in an act of terrorism, he made an enemy.

After his wife’s death, his twin sister Cas left her musical career and her life in Europe to care for her niece, Sunny. Cas inspired Sunny’s love of food and cooking, taking her across America and Europe to educate her palate. Sunny’s meals at the café are legendary. Her impulsive brother Stryker joined the service and was in Hawaii in 1942 when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He had married and had twins, but no one knows what happened to any of them.

History had forced itself into their lives.

Men arrived in town to set up the Manzanar Interment Camp for Japanese Americans. Schiff, a Chicago Jew, is sent to oversee the operation. Knowing that in Germany he himself would be in a camp, he imagines ways of improving the lives of the internees. Rocky befriends him. Schiff falls for Sunny. But romance must wait, for history has made its claims on their lives.

Thirst. You have to want it, to have the perseverance, self-reliance, stamina.
from Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins

It’s a big book filled with unforgettable characters, in a remarkable time and a stark and beautiful land. I noted line after line of insight or beauty, sharing two as Sunday Sentences for the best lines I read that week.

I found myself remembering the woman in my husband’s office who had spent her teens at Manzanar and the stories she shared. Wiggins describes the internees arriving at camp, dressed in their finest clothing, and you can’t help but understand these people were just like you. Sunny hands out oranges; a man asks for the box the oranges came in: he had owned the orchard. It is a startling scene.

There is so much in this book, it deserves a second reading with its diverse themes. How we have used the environment. How we treat ethnic groups. Foodies will glory in the descriptions of food. It is a love story about the land, the bonds of family, and love. It is heart breaking and yet hopeful.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for a free book. ( )

I loved parts of this book and other parts seemed to drag a bit. I really connected with the characters and thought the author did a masterful job with the setting descriptions. I'm not a foodie, so some of those sections were not my favorite (foodies would love this book).
I realize the author had a stroke before the book was finished and her daughter helped her complete it and that could have had an effect on the ending. For me, it was a disappointment. For certain characters it was abrupt and the end seemed to just cut off.
I did find this perspective on the internment camps very well done and thought provoking, as well as the water situation.
For me, parts of the book were a 4 and others a 3.5 ( )

This was a great book and even more than how good it was had to do with how it was finished after Wiggins suffered a massive stroke before the completion. The Afterword by. her daughter explains how it was done and does contribute to an uneven ending. The story is a family saga that deals with the Rhodes family. Rocky and Cas are twins whose father amassed a great fortune from minerals and mining. Rocky escaped the east coast in his youth and moved to the Owens Valley at the foothills of the Sierra in 1920's. He built a ranch and met the love of is life Lou with whom he had twins(Stryker and Sunny). Tragically, Lou a doctor and a chef died from polio when the twins were 3 and Cas came to California to help raise them. That is the back story when the book opens on the eve of World War II. There are so many intertwined stories in the book as it deals with the war, Japanese interment camps, water rights, racism, war politics, and mostly the relationships among the many characters in the book. The main characters are Sunny and Schiff the Jewish lawyer who works for the Dept. of Interior and is the head of Japan's interment camp at Manzanar which is next to the Rhodes ranch. The prose is terrific and the story in intricate and shows great skill and creativity. There are some digressions about food and the writing style can be off putting and this kept the book from being a 5 but overall it is a great book and very worthwhile for its historical information. I will definitely check out her other books. ( )