Wandering Meadowlark

Jezebels of the Earth Wandering Meadowlark

After being fired from her university job for her environmental activism, a mother and her daughter move to a small town in Montana, hoping to find peace and quiet in a house they recently inherited from a long lost aunt. To their dismay, they discover that their new home is a "house of ill repute." To put it mildly, this is not entirely a help in their efforts to improve their battered reputations.

Located directly across the street from the local church, it would also seem to be inopportunely located. However, their new business partner, the madam who runs it, wouldn't have it any other way. She explains that the minister across the street gives them free advertising every Sunday. It's a self-sufficient economy, she insists: They provide the sin; the minister provides the salvation. Together, they circulate enough money to keep the tiny local economy afloat. 

The women quickly find themselves involved in a longstanding conflict with a powerful rancher. Nicknamed by his detractors Kingdom Come, he is a state senator and the head of a secretive religious group called the Priesthood. Rumor has it, he murdered his wife for adultery. With his daughter in rebellion, environmentalists fighting a coal mine he wants, and the Priesthood's many secrets to protect, the last thing he needs is for the two women to move in. 

Named Best of 2011 by Kirkus Review, Jezebels of the Earth is a novel about power, sex, and the climate crisis.