In Marchlands， Karla Kuban s stunning first novel， she introduces a troubled， intrepid， ultimately triumphant young heroine whose path to womanhood is both original and extraordinarily compelling. Living on a thousand-acre sheep ranch， fifteen-year-old Sophie Behr can ride for hours and not see another person; her closest companion， her horse， Pablo. And Sophie often roams to think -- about Demetrio， the Mexican ranch hand who helped make the baby growing inside her; about her mother and Aunt Alice， who drink every night while watching the television news， hoping to catch a glimpse of their sons fighting in Vietnam; and about her father， who vanished one day when Sophie was four years old. Sophie s mother -- tough， bitter， and unstable -- warns Sophie never to mention her father s name， but Sophie is compelled to find him and discover why he left. After a frighteningly violent reunion， she seeks refuge and illumination from her grandmother. At once child and woman， Sophie is a precociously wise observer of the tragedies of her own family and of the world. It is Karla Kuban s masterful sense of place and the startling clarity of her voice that make Marchlands such a spectacular fiction debut.