Bena Duse Jonssen believes in omens, good and bad. She has come to see her destiny in the simple arithmetic of everyday life — every random arrangement of numbers (on road signs, calendars, license plates) holds the power to either condemn or console. But Bena Jonssen's life has been anything but simple since she arrived in Pueblo, Colorado — a bleak, dusty town caught in the grip of the Great Depression. At home, she measures her ailing baby with a tattered hair ribbon — and watches as her marriage crumbles around her. From her office window, she sees a pregnant prostitute with an enigmatic cowboy — and begins to question her deepest beliefs about good and evil. And in the depths of a decaying monument to the local mining industry, she confronts a terrifying secret — and finds that the things she can't measure are the most frightening of all...

"Richly atmospheric." The New Yorker

"The Mineral Palace is a marvelous debut novel: harrowing, poetic and tragic enough to satisfy both Faulkner and Oprah." Newsweek

"A strong, moving book about people torn between the hard circumstances in which they live, and the harder ones they bring upon themselves." San Francisco Chronicle

"Heidi Julavits is a remarkable writer. [The Mineral Palace is] a spectacular display of her talents, her sensibilities on love and danger, and her utterly fascinating and singular voice." Amy Tan, author of The Bonesetter's Daughter

"Heidi Julavit's debut novel...is as marvelous as we've seen in a long time. A beautiful, sinister novel." Esquire

In this bold debut novel, a doctor's wife uncovers the sordid secrets of a Colorado mining town during the Great Depression, even as she struggles with the ravaging truths about her marriage and her child.