Susan Sugar DIamond, Away in a Desert is # 4 in the ongoing Desert store series. In the earlier series, Mama loses Cowboy Johnson unexpectedly and flees to The Makepeace Ranch to hide out with his ashes just before Christmas while a huge blizzard stops most of the misfits from going home to the desert store for their yearly Christmas gathering.

But the desert store does not stay empty. Arrivals are expected. Timmon, Hector, and Annie await the appearance of Cowboy Johnson’s angry father Matthew, but unexpected guests show up first, beginning with Susan Sugar Diamond and Lana English. Perry, Matthews other son, decides to stay out at the ranch with William the Dude, Emma, and Mama. An intensely moving and luminous gathering of people who have all reached a crossroads in their lives and are trying to figure out how to move on.

This is book number four in the fascinating, humorous and touching lives played out in the Desert Store series. We know each of them by now. They are familiar friends. Each of the characters are living out many of the same issues we have. We have made them our allies because of their Goodness and abilities, they are like ourselves and they stand by us, sharing their thoughts and feelings and lives with us. 205 pages.