As a teenager, Howell sparked the worst wildfire in Montana’s history. Ten years later, they decide to take fate into their own hands.
The great miracle of my life was that no one died.
After one reckless act in the Montana wilderness destroys millions of acres, Howell is sentenced to a decade of probation and fifty million dollars in restitution. They become frozen in the public imagination as the poster child for environmental destruction. Banned from the canyon where they spent their childhood, they are forced to follow the letter of the law or risk harsher punishment.
Ten years later, just as Howell is on the precipice of an “ordinary” adult life at last, chaos descends. The judge overseeing Howell’s case goes missing (in the very canyon where the original crime took place), and Howell's first love reappears. Unable to wait any longer for their future to begin, Howell decides to risk everything for the chance to finally break free from their past.
A luminous, gorgeously written novel about the radical grace of the natural world and navigating love on a burning planet, Sublimity Canyon asks how we forgive ourselves and each other for the damage we cause.
Jules Ohman is the author of the novels Body Grammar and Sublimity Canyon. Her writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Buckman Journal, Willow Springs, Camas Magazine, and others. She is currently a visiting professor at the University of Montana and lives with her wife in Missoula.
View titles by Jules Ohman
As a teenager, Howell sparked the worst wildfire in Montana’s history. Ten years later, they decide to take fate into their own hands.
The great miracle of my life was that no one died.
After one reckless act in the Montana wilderness destroys millions of acres, Howell is sentenced to a decade of probation and fifty million dollars in restitution. They become frozen in the public imagination as the poster child for environmental destruction. Banned from the canyon where they spent their childhood, they are forced to follow the letter of the law or risk harsher punishment.
Ten years later, just as Howell is on the precipice of an “ordinary” adult life at last, chaos descends. The judge overseeing Howell’s case goes missing (in the very canyon where the original crime took place), and Howell's first love reappears. Unable to wait any longer for their future to begin, Howell decides to risk everything for the chance to finally break free from their past.
A luminous, gorgeously written novel about the radical grace of the natural world and navigating love on a burning planet, Sublimity Canyon asks how we forgive ourselves and each other for the damage we cause.
Jules Ohman is the author of the novels Body Grammar and Sublimity Canyon. Her writing has appeared in Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Buckman Journal, Willow Springs, Camas Magazine, and others. She is currently a visiting professor at the University of Montana and lives with her wife in Missoula.
View titles by Jules Ohman
