First published 2022
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Linda Ronstadt returns to her roots in the Sonoran Desert, the landscape that shaped her music and identity. The Grammy winner takes readers through the high desert stretching from Arizona into Mexico's west coast, a region carved by wind and marked by sunlight. Ronstadt grew up as the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants and descendant of Spanish settlers near northern Sonora. She celebrates the flavors and people on both sides of what was once a porous border, where families exchanged recipes and gathered around campfires to sing the ballads that influenced her musical heritage. Written with former New York Times writer Lawrence Downes and illustrated with photographs by Bill Steen, this memoir follows her bestselling Simple Dreams. Ronstadt weaves together memories of people and their passions in a region misunderstood by much of the United States. She includes recipes for traditional Sonoran dishes and offers revelations for her admirers, creating a personal tour built around meals and memories of Tucson, her hometown.
Genres: autobiography, biography-memoir, cooking, cultural, food-and-drink, food-writing
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-journey
Setting: Arizona, Mexico, Sonora, Tucson
Period: 20th-century
218 pages · Hardcover · Heyday