The High Heaven

The wandering protagonist of Wheeler’s sweeping if diffuse first novel (after the essay collection Acid West) harbors a lifelong fixation on space travel after being raised in a UFO-obsessed cult in 1960s New Mexico. When the compound is raided by the sheriff over reports of a burned corpse in 1967, Izzy runs away. She’s taken in by Oliver and Maude Gently on their ranch near White Sands, who offer comfort by telling her she can transfer her heavy emotions to the moon. Oliver already opposes the government for attempting to annex his land for the military, and when a uniformed Army chaplain arrives to deliver the news that their son has been killed in Vietnam, Izzy misunderstands his purpose and shoots him dead with the Gentlys’ shotgun, then flees the area. Over the following decades, Izzy flits between jobs and eventually drifts to Louisiana and becomes a social worker. As U.S. space exploration reignites in the 2020s with the Artemis program, she’s drawn to a series of clients who claim they can no longer see the moon, hoping to help them in the way Oliver helped her. Wheeler’s languid pacing throttles the picaresque story, which never quite coheres. UFO enthusiasts might appreciate this tour through Space Age lore, but it doesn’t have enough thrust for liftoff. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner. (Oct.)