Told in alternating points of view, The Proprietor’s Song follows Innkeeper Stanley Uribe, tucked high up in California’s Sierras, as he tries to unravel the mysterious death of his sister Lorna, and Grace and Elwood Fisher, a comfortable, middle-aged couple from the Bay Area, who return every year to Death Valley where their son Jared disappeared over spring break. At its core, The Proprietor’s Song is a novel about devastating grief and renewed hope, all set among some of California’s most remote and haunting landscapes.

Praise for The Proprietor's Song

“Janet Goldberg writes so powerfully of loss and grief. We follow the crooked paths of people left stumbling behind those who have gone on (a son, a sister) until we recognize our own intimate irresolvable journey in theirs. The author manages to say the unsayable. A truly original and effervescent writer.”

– Stephanie Cowell, American Book Award recipient, author of Claude & Camille and The Boy in the Rain

“Loved this. What a great read and respite from poetry.”

– Dorianne Laux, finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize

“Goldberg’s poetic descriptions of Death Valley, its alluring and treacherous landscape, set the tone for The Proprietor’s Song, a subtle novel about grief, mortality, hope, and despair.”

– Fredrick Soukup, author of Bliss and Blood Up North