KATHLEEN M. RODGERS’S new novel beautifully captures the feeling of growing up landlocked and dreaming of the sea. Set in the fictional eastern New Mexico town of Sandhill, The Llano County Mermaid Club (UNM Press) follows Marigold Hubbard and her best friend, Melody Calloway—two girls who spend sunburned summers reading Bless Me, Ultima and pretending they’re mermaids in the cool waters of Santa Rosa’s Blue Hole. When tragedy strikes, the story ripples through decades, bringing Marigold back to Sandhill to reckon with old secrets and forgiveness. Rodgers nails small desert-town details—tortillas warm from the comal, the wisdom of curanderas, and thighs stuck to vinyl car seats. It’s a nostalgic tale of friendship, loss, and the power of coming home.