All the Land to Hold Us

From one of our most gifted writers, a novel of seekers that spans three generations set amid the harsh terrain of West Texas. Rick Bass proves once again that strange and powerful landscapes summon strange and powerful happenings in his masterfully crafted fourth novel. Adding lushness to a harsh desert backdrop, All the Land to Hold Us interweaves multiple narratives of the residents of Midland: oil and gas wildcatters, salt miners, high school football players (this is Texas, after all), a lonely widower, a spinster Mormon school teacher amid Baptists, a one-legged treasure-hunter, and a local beauty dreaming of bigger things. They are connected not only by place, but also by human longing. Bass' s unmistakable voice is showcased and the hallmarks of his work— environment, endangered innocence, human greed, regret, and redemption— are all writ large on this canvas. The strands of All the Land to Hold Us bind together place and the persons who adapt to, and ultimately, despoil it.