They say you can't go home again, but sometimes, you don't have a choice
Dickie Sinfield was seven years old when her father decided to become a cowboy and move his family from their comfortable suburban home to a small run-down ranch in Clayton, Utah. From her first stock show to the day she turns eighteen and flees for the comforts of the city, Dickie bucks the cattle-ranching lifestyle and yearns for manicured lawns, housebroken pets, and neighborhood playmates. Yet she reluctantly finds herself drawn to the vast, desolate landscape of the desert and the solitude it offers—a feeling she won't acknowledge even within herself.
Now a grown woman, Dickie is a respected reporter in Salt Lake City, convinced that physical distance and a convenient but passionless relationship will erase the memory of her painful childhood. But when her brother dies in a tragic accident, Dickie finds herself back in the farmhouse she tried so desperately to abandon. Suddenly, she is faced with her family's past and a love she's never admitted to, bringing down the walls of her carefully contrived existence.
Accustomed to the physical boundaries city life entails, Dickie feels emotionally exposed by the fenceless expanse of the ranch. As she navigates her past, piecing together relationships, romance, and the pull of the mountains themselves, she finally confronts the pivotal moment of her childhood—the horrifying discovery that made her flee the desert so many years ago.
A novel that spans two generations and vast landscapes, The Last Cowgirl brings to mind the writing of Pam Houston and Barbara Kingsolver. Richman's provocative prose, pulled from personal experience, will strike a chord with anyone who has been faced with demons from their past and found solace in the space around them.

The Last Cowgirl: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Richman, Jana

United States

William Morrow

Dickie Sinfield was seven years old when her father uprooted the family from their comfortable suburban home and moved them to a small, run-down ranch in Clayton, Utah, where he could chase his dream of  being a cowboy. Dickie always hated the cattle-ranching lifestyle, and as soon as she turned eighteen she fled for the comforts of the city. Now a grown woman, a respected journalist in Salt Lake City, Dickie is coming home following the tragic, accidental death of her brother. Suddenly back in the farmhouse she was once so desperate to abandon—emotionally exposed by, yet reluctantly drawn to the vast, desolate landscape and the solitude it offers—she must confront her family's past . . . and the horrifying discovery at the pivotal moment of her childhood that ultimately forced her to run from the desert. Spanning two generations and vast landscapes, a novel that fans of Pam Houston and Barbara Kingsolver will eagerly embrace, Jana Richman's The Last Cowgirl will strike a powerful chord with anyone who has ever searched for solace in the space around them.

William Morrow Paperbacks

Searching for Faith, Family, and Inner Peace on the Back of a Motorcycle Between 1846 and 1866, about 50,000 Mormons traveled the Mormon trail, burying more than 6,000 of the faithful along the way. Four generations ago, seven of Jana Richman’s eight great-great grandmothers walked all or part of the 1,300-mile trek, from Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River to Salt Lake City. Traveling on faith and little else, they endured unfathomable hardships—bitter cold, extreme heat, mud, icy river crossings, blizzards, buffalo stampedes, disease, hunger, and exhaustion—never stopping until they reached their promised land where they could be free to practice a religion that few outsiders understood and many violently condemned. One hundred and fifty years later, Jana Richman packs maps and a laptop computer on the back of a motorcycle and follows the route of her ancestors, searching for the peace and faith the women before her carried with so much confidence. Jana also searches for a clearer understanding of how her devoutly Mormon mother is able to reconcile an independent spirit and enormous inner strength with her intense belief in a patriarchal institution. Riding into the nation’s heartland, visiting graveyards, chatting with missionaries, and soaking in the rituals of the faith she so casually shrugged off as a teenager, Richman begins to unravel her family’s mysteries and confront her own long-held prejudices about the Mormon Church.

Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman's Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Three Rivers Press

“In the ten years that I’ve been riding, I’ve been asked often why I ride a motorcycle. I have struggled but failed to come up with a satisfactory one-sentence answer for those who seem genuinely interested. Lately, however, the most logical answer seems to be, ‘I grew up Mormon.’ ” This is the story of Jana Richman’s journey on a motorcycle across the Mormon trail in search of her roots and an understanding of the faith that brought peace to five generations of women before her. Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States, and one of the least understood. Written with searing candor and a beguiling lack of sentimentality, Riding in the Shadows of Saints is rich in history and detail regarding the origins, beliefs, rituals, and social mores of the Mormon culture. Richman, born into the Mormon Church but no longer a member, explores the meaning of faith and the perils of middle-age motorcycling with equal aplomb. Four generations ago, seven of Richman’s eight great-great grandmothers walked all or part of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail, from Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River to Salt Lake City. Traveling on faith and little else, they endured unfathomable hardships—bitter cold, extreme heat, mud, icy river crossings, blizzards, buffalo stampedes, disease, hunger, and exhaustion—never stopping until they reached their promised land where they could be free to practice a religion that few outsiders understood and many violently condemned. Between the years 1846 and 1866, about 50,000 Mormons traveled the Mormon trail, burying more than 6,000 of the faithful along the way. One hundred and fifty years later, Jana Richman packs maps and a laptop computer on the back of a motorcycle and follows their route, searching for the peace and faith the women before her carried with so much confidence. She also searches for a clearer understanding of how her devoutly Mormon mother is able to reconcile an independent spirit and enormous inner strength with her intense belief in a patriarchal institution. Traveling blue highways into the nation’s heartland, visiting graveyards, chatting with missionaries, and soaking in the rituals of the faith she so casually shrugged off as a teenager, Richman begins to unravel her family’s mysteries and confront her own long-held prejudices about the Mormon Church.

Travel

Crown/Archetype

Moving through the settings of her life—red rock canyons, aspen forests, mountains, and cities—Jana Richman probes the depths of her internal landscape and asks how we can find stillness in our noisy world. In essays both personal and profoundly universal, Richman eschews quick and easy answers for quiet reflections on the questions: In a culture demanding that every voice be heard, how do we make sense of the resulting roar? Where do we seek solace when the last quiet places are sacrificed to human hubris? How do we shed the angst thrust upon us to create lives of peace? In these wide-ranging personal essays, Richman travels interior roads through fear, kindness, ignorance, darkness, wildness, compassion, solitude, loneliness, and more—always asking how external geography informs our internal geography. From the monsoonal rains in the carved slot canyons of the Escalante to the eroticism of dirt on skin in a remote slice of the Grand Canyon; from the defiance of academic authority to the curled, arthritic fingers of her mother and grandmothers, Richman sinks into the realities that make us human and fallible and blessed. Inspired by masters of the traditional personal essay such as E.B. White and M.F.K. Fisher, Richman adds a unique, deeply intimate—and often humorous—voice to the concurrence of human experience. Like a desert stream, human meaning meanders before coming to rest. Richman’s authentic voice illuminates the place where internal and external landscapes merge into meaning. Time with these genuine, inclusive pieces is time well spent.

Finding Stillness in a Noisy World

Professionals & Academics

University of Utah Press

"With tough women and sensitive men, desertdry humor, hotsprings sensuality, heartbreaking secrets, escalating suspense, and a 360degree perspective on the battle over water, Richman's twentyfirstcentury western is riveting, wise, and compassionate." BOOKLIST, starred review "[A] compelling story of a ranching family divided by a proposed water pipeline that would draw water from western Utah to Las Vegas." —THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE "Richman helps readers understand and feel deeply each side of a complex story." —DESERET NEWS "[Richman's] narrative account of the impact of climate change on those that live in the worst affected areashuman and animal alikeis an emotional prophecy of what lies in store for all of us." 15 BYTES "With a unique voice, Richman crystallizes how secrets and silences flow through the generationswith depth of characters, beauty of language, and a haunting understanding of the landscapes that define us." JANE KIRKPATRICK, bestselling author of Where Lilacs Still Bloom "The Ordinary Truth tells a pageturner of a story about love and loyalty, loss and regretand, ultimately, the stunning absolution of the simple truth. Richman writeswith the sure hand of a formidable storyteller." STEPHEN TRIMBLE, author of Bargaining for Eden When Nell Jorgensen buried her husband, she buried a piece of herselfand more than one secret. Now, thirty-six years later, the rift between Nell and her daughter Kate threatens to implode as Kate, now forty-six and a water manager for the Nevada Water Authority, plans to pipe water from a huge aquifer that lies beneath the family ranch to thirsty Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Nell's twenty-one-year-old granddaughter Cassie intends to unearth those old secrets and repair the resentments that grew in their place. Throughout the novel, sparse and beautiful landscapes surround an emotional wilderness of love, loss, and family. Jana Richman is the award-winning author of The Last Cowgirl (HarperCollins, 2009), which won the 2009 Willa Award for Contemporary Fiction. A sixth-generation Utahn, Jana was born and raised in Utah's west desert, the daughter of a small-time rancher and a hand-wringing Mormon mother. With the exception of a few misguided years spent in New York City trying to make a fortune on Wall Street, she has lived her entire life west of the hundredth meridian. She writes about issues that threaten to destroy the essence of the westand about passion, beauty, and love. Jana lives in Escalante, Utah.
 Praise for Jana Richman's The Last Cowgirl: "Richman's mastery of the emotional geography is illuminating...Calls to mind the work of Pat Conroy." Kirkus Reviews Praise for Jana Richman’s Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman’s Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail: Openhearted and uncommonly balanced.” Entertainment Weekly Tartly funny.” Chicago Tribune Surprising and refreshing.” Philadelphia Inquirer Much to admire in [this] moving memoir...[Richman] can write lyrically and unsentimentally about the most intimate experiences.” Newsday (New York) Beautifully poetic...exploratory...thought-provoking.” New Orleans Times-Picayune Frank and beguilingly unsentimental, Riding in the Shadows of Saints is an honest look at a powerful and wealthy institution and the people who live within its structures.” Tucson Citizen A mixture of road trip musings, quirky adventure tales, and spiritual reflections, with a healthy dose of unresolved family issues...universally compelling.” Publishers Weekly

The Ordinary Truth

Literary

Torrey House Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Richman, Jana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Richman, Jana

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Richman, Jana. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Last Cowgirl: A Novel

The Last Cowgirl: A Novel

Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman's Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail

Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman's Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail

Finding Stillness in a Noisy World

The Ordinary Truth