Homegrown Muse

By Sally Bennett Boyington

Land-use researcher Lyssa Smith pays a high price for confronting Tank Turnbull, a Phoenix land developer, about his destruction of the desert she loves. As her carefully constructed life comes under attack, Lyssa discovers an unlikely ally in Dane Callicott, another developer. Shackled by family expectations, battered by a series of betrayals, and blinded by impossible choices, Dane and Lyssa might very well bulldoze over their one chance at happiness—unless together they can blaze a new trail forward.

Homegrown Muse is a gentle and often humorous look at the meeting of generations, of alternative lifestyles, of unlikely lovers, and of deeply felt values and codes of ethics in our modern world. Set against the backdrop of property development in the Phoenix area, it interweaves environmentalism and corporate survival, giving a human face to the contested issue of land stewardship.

(published under the name Sally Bennett)