top of page

Into the Valley 

Ruth Galm’s spare, poetic debut novel, set in the American West of early Joan Didion, traces the drifting path of a young woman caught between generations as she skirts the law and her own oppressive anxiety. — Soho Press

“Galm’s debut is precisely written and casually paced. A standout debut.”

— Publishers Weekly, starred, boxed review; selected as one of ten “Writers to Watch: Fall 2015 Anticipated Debuts”; PW Pick of the Week 8-3-15 

“Mesmerizing … Galm’s writing mimics the hyperreality of dreams, and the novel’s penetrative heat is palpable … Underpinning Into the Valley is a subtle and complicated exploration of what it means to be a woman and, more specifically, what it means to be a woman without a man.”

— ELLE Magazine 

“Galm’s writing is rich and evokes the desolation of the Central Valley and B.’s mental state. Readers [will] appreciate Galm’s fantastic writing and the new view of an overexposed slice of American History.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“ … [E]vokes the desolate interior landscape of writers such as Joan Didion.”

— San Jose Mercury News

“Riveting debut novel … Terse, vivid, and heavily atmospheric … ”

— “6 Books You Need to Read This August,” Los Angeles Magazine

“This is a natural for anyone who loves Joan Didion’s work–especially her nonfiction critiques on California and that other classic of aimless driving, Play It as It Lays.”

— Booklist, starred review

“Galm, in a similar fashion to Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, has powerfully captured a woman’s righteous resistance in the face of a rapaciously gendered society.”  

— KQED Arts on Into the Valley

“Readers will find it difficult to set aside Into the Valley, even after they are done with it. Truly mesmerizing … Contemporary literary fiction at its best.”

— New York Journal of Books

— Selected for 2015 35over35 list 

— Top Five 2015 Staff Pick. Kepler’s Bookstore

Available from Soho Press 

For media inquiries, please contact Abby Koski at Soho Press, akoski@sohopress.com.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
9781616957100.jpeg
by Ruth Galm
bottom of page