Properties of Thirst

Marianne Wiggins returns with a novel set during World War II that explores family and the American Dream. Rockwell "Rocky" Rhodes has long defended his California ranch from the LA Water Corporation, the place where he and his wife Lou raised their twins, Sunny and Stryker, and where he has grieved Lou's death. As the twins approach adulthood, the country moves toward war. Stryker enlists and deploys to Pearl Harbor shortly before the attack. The family faces another tragedy, and Rocky becomes determined to protect his remaining family and their land. When the government decides to build a Japanese American internment camp near Manzanar adjacent to the ranch, Rocky confronts threats beyond the water company. A Department of the Interior official assigned to construct the camp becomes infatuated with Sunny and entangled with the Rhodes family, gradually understanding the horror of his role. The novel examines California's changing landscape and a dark period in American history through individual stories of love and loss. It presents an account of the nation's character and the bonds of family that endure through hardship.