COMING MARCH 3, 2026!!!
IN THE DESERT
a new novel from
Barbara Byar
Preorder the e-book here!
Paperback and Ebook available March 3, 2026.
In the desert, a phone begins to ring...
A traumatized movie star returns to his dying hometown to find the woman he loves has disappeared. He vows to find her. In the Desert follows five friends as the consequences of a bartered 24 hours from their childhood unravel in betrayal, murder, undying love, and a phone booth at the end of the world.
Praise for Barbara Byar and In the Desert
“A propulsive, original and startling read. If the likes of Ford and Wolff had ‘dirty realism’, Byar — with her collection of misfits, dreamers and lost souls — is pioneering a path in ‘dirty cosmic realism’. A striking debut.”
–Noel O’Regan, author of Though the Bodies Fall, shortlisted for the James Tait Black Fiction Prize
“In the Desert is a wildly imaginative, all-encompassing, barn burner of a book! Byar knows the language of the desert, the harsh, sun-drenched days, as endless and mysterious as the universe itself, where anything is possible, even carnivals or a wish-granting phone booth materializing into thin air, ready to challenge the friendship of five young teenagers as they make their way through life. I am in awe of Byar’s inventive, nonlinear narrative that pulls the reader in with rich, unsentimental prose, weaving a gripping tale of love, friendship, and betrayal in a dying world. It felt as if I were looking up at the night sky, witnessing the overlap of the multiverse, watching the death and rebirth of stars, contemplating the cost of a wish that may take your soul or grant you a soulmate. At once tender and hopeful, brutal and unforgiving, In the Desert is ultimately about never losing sight of what universally draws us together.”
–Sabrina Hicks, author of Coyote Girl
“In the Desert evokes the danger and magic that lies in the parched landscape and in the restless hearts of those who live there. Barbara Byar's cinematic writing creates an electric portrait of lives spinning on their edge.”
–Rónán Hession, author of Leonard & Hungry Paul, shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year
“In the Desert is the most wildly original and compelling novel that I’ve read in the last few years. Fans of Emily St. John Mandel, David Lynch, and Wim Wenders will find themselves right at home in this character-driven speculative adventure like no other. But be warned. Your heart will break. You will definitely shed a few tears. You’ll be on the edge of your seat. And—most of all—your faith in love and the human spirit will be renewed.”
–Casey Stegman, author of Kill Current
“In the Desert is like watching Paris, Texas and Blood Simple in 3D, on acid, at a blisteringly hot drive-in movie theatre. This is the American Dream turned bad and mean, the death of naive and youthful fantasy on tortured desert highways, the agony of lost love. It is dark, and so darned beautiful you will want to read it again and again. I swear, you will never forget this novel. It will haunt you, reinvigorate you, and make you believe that even at the end of all things cherished, true love can endure. Read it, love it, tell everyone about it. In the Desert is a true classic!”
–Jennifer McMahon, author of Queen of Cork City
“In the Desert is a wild fucking ride, man! Barbara Byar writes without fear and leaves nothing untouched: form, memory, time, love, death, and secrets. So many secrets. This novel invites you into a fever dream, one that will stay in your bones long after you wake up.”
–Stephanie Austin, author of Burn
“A fever dream of dust-blown horizons, carnivals, quantum transporters, Hollywood ambition, and backroom abortions, In the Desert peels back the mysteries of its characters layer by layer, with one revelation giving way to another buried beneath. In her debut novel, Barbara Byar tells a story of shifting landscapes—geographic, temporal, and personal—where each turn of the page feels like dunes reshaping in the arid desert wind.”
–Jonathan Danielson, author of The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories, longlisted for the PEN America Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection
“With In the Desert, Barbara Byar blends raw, unsparing grit lit with the shimmer of the surreal, where a galactic carnival, complete with a two-headed dog, collides with the dust and heat of a southwest desert. But at its core In the Desert is a love story–of dreams chased, passions rekindled, a mother’s fierce devotion, and a kind of cosmic, unexpected love that defies all earthly rules.”
–Andrew K. Clark, author of Where Dark Things Grow, shortlisted for the North Carolina Book Awards Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction
“Barbara Byar's In the Desert takes readers deep into the cold, dry night of an unnamed southwestern community, through time and space, and back again. Byar entwines so many threads for her group of friends and acquaintances and is masterful at tying them together by the end of the novel. Her storytelling and inventive twists defy genres and will keep you reading late into the night, when magical phone booths and whimsical carnivals are most likely to appear to offer a wish—for a price.”
–Melissa Flores Anderson, author of All and Then None of You.
“Inventive, dark, and transcendently disorienting, In the Desert delivers a relentless narrative of love and loss. Wielding time and space with inventive force, Byar’s voice is a knife: sharp, precise and cuts straight through to the heart of the matter. She brings us on a gritty, surreal journey of hope, examining what remains when everything else unravels.”
–Charleen Hurtubise, author of Saoirse
“Compelling genre-bending tale of love, violence and hope at the end of the world.”
–Claire Hennessey, author of In the Movie of Her Life