"Devils Unto Dust"

Emma Berquist grew up in Austin, Texas and sunburns easily. She currently lives in New Zealand and avoids the beach.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Devils Unto Dust, and reported the following:

From page 69:

The heat hits me like a solid wall when I step out into the sunshine. I breathe in the scorching air and the heat sears my lungs, clearing out the smoke and noise from the bar. I don’t know how folk can stand to live in there, crammed together with no space to think.

This is the beginning of a chapter where Willie escapes a crowded bar and starts on her way back home. Growing up in a small town in the middle of a desert, she’s not comfortable being in small spaces with lots of people. (In this instance, her inner monologue would probably match my own thoughts!) It’s not just the crowd that makes her uneasy, though, it’s the fact that Willie has trouble trusting anyone but her closest friends and family. It’s doubly a relief for her to get out of that situation and be alone with the one person she trusts the most.

Page 69 is fairly indicative of the rest of the book; Willie is introspective, and we spend a good amount of time in her head.

Visit Emma Berquist's website.

--Marshal Zeringue