The Wind in His Heart

Steve Cole is an old desert rat, living quietly in the hills above the Kikimi reservation in the American Southwest with his unusual girlfriend. Calico is ma'inawo, one of the magic people of the otherworld who can transform into different animals. Blogger Leah Hardin has written about the rock band the Diesel Rats for years, after falling in love with their music following her best friend's suicide. Teen Sadie walks in trouble wherever she goes, hurting herself and others in her desperation to escape her abusive father. When Steve rescues Sadie in the desert, she repays his kindness by revealing his secret identity as the long-lost Diesel Rats front man to Leah in the hopes for a quick cash payoff. With the help of his friends on the rez and in the otherworld, Steve must come to terms with his past and present, help Sadie find a better path, and heal the growing breach among the people who call the Painted Lands home. Like de Lint's (Moonheart) other works, this novel, first self-published in 2017 and now issued in a limited edition, is about renewal and forgiveness, the delicate nature of the human psyche, and the power of choosing change.