Nicolette Polek’s debut novel Bitter Water Opera is slim, written in four fragmented parts. The novel tracks the first person narrator’s developing existential spiral, which is eventually recuperated by a religious reckoning. The first section follows present-day Gia in crisis as she is visited by the ghost of Marta Becket, dancer and founder of the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction. The second section details Gia’s days spent in a borrowed home in the forest, owned by the mysterious (some would say ghostly) Simone. The third part involves Gia’s stay at the decrepit Amargosa Hotel and Opera House, which leads to her spiritual awakening in Death Valley National Park. The fourth involves the narrator’s return to her life, to her mother, her mother’s garden, and her newfound dedication to God.
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