• Fiction. By Aryn Kyle. Scribner, $25. Grade: A

Book in a nutshell: Author Kyle spent most of her childhood in Grand Junction, the basis for the fictional setting of her striking debut novel, Desert Valley, Colo. Twelve-year-old Alice lives on a horse ranch with her father and bed-ridden mother. The novel begins during a summer when both the weather and money are running dry.

Quiet Alice's talented, sassy, older sister Nona has run away to marry a cowboy. Alice is left to tend house, bring meals to her mother and assist her father on the ranch, including helping with riding lessons for another girl, Sheila Altman. Sheila's parents are wealthy and she is showered with attention, in contrast to Alice, whose mother hasn't left her room in years and whose father doesn't notice that Alice has outgrown her clothes. To help make ends meet, Alice's father takes in boarders - wealthy women with names like Bitsy who drink champagne while grooming their horses and who, with Sheila, show Alice what the monied world is all about. Meanwhile, Alice longs to be noticed, becoming obsessed with a classmate who drowned and is celebrated in her death.

Sample of prose: "Behind us, in the arena, I could hear the thumping of Darling's hooves as she broke into a trot and moved, invisible, through the darkness. I wanted to ask my father what we were going to do with her, where we would keep her when we had to use the arena. But then I thought of the look that had crossed his face when he watched her. She was still full of promise, still perfect in her mystery. For this one day, he could look at her like she might be the answer to all his prayers, the end of every worry. Once, he had looked at Sheila Altman that way, and before her, my sister. There must have been a time, back before I had knowledge or language or memory, when he had looked at me that way too."

Pros: Kyle writes an original coming-of-age story in a subtle, but strong voice. The characters are rich and pure, and you come to know them as complete people.

Cons: While this is a mere quibble, the book can be a bit depressing.

Final word: This is a debut to make many veteran writers jealous. The story will stun you with its climax.