[3] Living in the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, 37-year-old frontierswoman Nora Lark waits inside her home for the return of the men in her life.

Nora, affected by her loneliness and isolation, speaks to her long-dead daughter, Evelyn, who died of heat stroke in Arizona as a baby.

[5] Ron Charles of The Washington Post praised the novel, writing, "The unsettling haze between fact and fantasy in Inland is not just a literary effect of Obreht's gorgeous prose; it's an uncanny representation of the indeterminate nature of life in this place of brutal geography.

"[6] Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Chanelle Benz stated, "Obreht's simple but rich prose captures and luxuriates in the West's beauty and sudden menace.

"[9] The reviewer concludes, "Obreht offers a new representation of the West, both in the characters she chooses and the emotional rigor and range with which she writes.