People Watching in the Desert: A Novel

"Beneath all the sharp humor⎯and believe me, this book is funny⎯is a wise, deftly-crafted portrait of the importance of connection, and the surprising ways we grow when we learn to open our hearts." ⎯ Grant Ginder, author of So Old, So Young

A funny and big-hearted novel for readers of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Remarkably Bright Creatures, about a lonely young woman who prefers to observe the world rather than participate in it, and the seismic repercussions that follow when she steps out of her own bubble.

Sonny Magee has spent most of her life alone, finding comfort in quiet solitude and scribbling in the private pages of her notebook. She lost her loving but troubled mother in childhood and was raised by an indifferent, sometimes cruel grandmother who left her scarred and naïve about life.

When Sonny mysteriously comes into a large sum of money, she finds herself in Arizona, at the luxury Sanctuary Resort & Spa. Out of her element and her comfort zone, she struggles with the spa’s doting staff and the unfamiliar wealth and constant small talk of her fellow guests.

Forced proximity introduces her to a cadre of eccentrics, and something akin to romance blossoms with a resort employee. Yet Sonny still feels most at peace when people watching from the margins, headphones on and scrawling in her notebook. But when a freak accident disturbs Sanctuary's carefully curated tranquility, a shocking twist crumbles Sonny’s inner world, and she finds herself unexpectedly—and maybe even pleasantly—surprised by the people around her.

"The first thing I thought when I finished People Watching in the Desert is that Cali Adeline is living inside my head. Spending time with Sonny Magee, the delightfully prickly protagonist of this fantastic debut, is like hanging out with your best friend poolside as she cracks jokes about everyone around you. But beneath all the sharp humor⎯and believe me, this book is funny⎯is a wise, deftly-crafted portrait of the importance of connection, and the surprising ways we grow when we learn to open our hearts." ⎯ Grant Ginder, author of So Old, So Young

"A luminous, heartwarming debut, rich in sharp observation and emotional depth. Against the vivid backdrop of a luxury desert resort, Cali Adeline crafts a page-turning story and a magnetic cast of unique characters, revealing what can unfold when a lifelong observer finds the courage to let the world in." ⎯ Anna Johnston, author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife