Valley Fever: A Novel

Ingrid Palamede never returns to the places she's lived. For her, "whole neighborhoods, whole cities, can be ruined by the reasons you left." But when a breakup leaves her heartbroken and homeless, she's forced to return to her childhood home of Fresno, California. Back in the real wine country, where grapes are grown for mass producers, Ingrid must confront her aging parents and their financial woes, soured friendships, and the blissfully bad decisions she made in her past. But along the way she unearths her love for the land, her talent for harvesting grapes, and a deep fondness for and forgiveness of the very first place she ever left.

With all the sharp-tongued wit of her first novel, Rules for Saying Goodbye, Katherine Taylor examines high-class small-town life among the grapes-on the vine or soaked in vodka-in Valley Fever, a blisteringly funny, ferociously intelligent, and deeply moving novel of self-discovery.