The Turquoise Ledge

Leslie Marmon Silko's new book, her first in ten years, combines memoir with family history and reflections on the creatures and beings that command her attention and inform her vision of the world, taking listeners along on her daily walks through the arroyos and ledges of the Sonoran desert in Arizona.

Silko weaves tales from her family's past into her observations, using the turquoise stones she finds on the walks to unite the strands of her stories, while the beauty and symbolism of the landscape around her, and the snakes, birds, dogs, and other animals that share her life and form part of her family, figure prominently in her memories.