NAMED A BEST MEMOIR OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE & SHELF AWARENESS

A SOUTHWEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

A striking literary memoir of genderfluidity, class, masculinity, and the American Southwest.

Newly arrived in the Sonoran Desert, eleven-year-old Zoë’s world becomes one of giant beetles, thundering javelinas, and gnarled paloverde trees. With the family’s move to Cactus Country RV Park, Zoë has been given a fresh start and a new, shorter haircut.

Although Zoë doesn’t yet have the words to express it, he experiences life as a trans boy—and in Cactus Country, others begin to see him as one, too.

Inside Cactus Country:

• A Trans Boyhood in the Desert: Follow Zoë's journey chasing shade and freight trains with an ever-rotating pack of sunburned desert kids.
• Complicating Masculinity & Class: An unvarnished look at the working-class men of Cactus Country and the hard, complex masculinity embedded in the landscape.
• A Powerful Sonoran Coming-of-Age: A poignant, unforgettable portrait of survival, identity, and finding oneself in the American West.

Haunting, evocative, and deeply moving, Cactus Country is an essential memoir of trans youth and working-class survival.

Equal parts harsh and tender, it's an invitation for readers to consider how we find our place in a world that insists on stark binaries, and a precisely rendered journey of self-determination that will resonate with anyone who’s ever had to fight to be themself.