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The High Heaven
A multigenre debut novel tracing one woman’s quest for faith across the American West during the Space Age
In 1967, on the night of the first Apollo mission, a child named Izzy is orphaned when the doomsday cult she was born into clashes with the sheriff in the high desert of New Mexico. She’s taken in by a struggling rancher who is trying to keep his mind from falling apart as NASA rocket tests encroach on his outer range. Inspired by the true story of a UFO cult in a village near White Sands, this novel traces Izzy Gently’s whole from tragedy on the ranch, through addiction and a rich cast of eccentrics in Texas, to New Orleans, where Izzy is haunted by her past even as she uses lessons from childhood to counsel people who have lost the ability to see the moon.
In The High Heaven, Joshua Wheeler explores American piety as it mutates over the course of the Space Age, as technology changes notions of both humanity and the heavens. Shot through with the speculative while paying homage to three iconic genres—neo-Western, picaresque, and Southern gothic—Izzy’s life story becomes a mirror for the warping of manifest destiny and, ultimately, a testament to the human will to seek meaning from the universe.
Suffused with the absurdist history of American space travel and the wide-open landscapes of the Southwest, The High Heaven chronicles a larger-than-life adventure of one extraordinary woman who, despite tragedy, never loses sight of redemption.
In 1967, on the night of the first Apollo mission, a child named Izzy is orphaned when the doomsday cult she was born into clashes with the sheriff in the high desert of New Mexico. She’s taken in by a struggling rancher who is trying to keep his mind from falling apart as NASA rocket tests encroach on his outer range. Inspired by the true story of a UFO cult in a village near White Sands, this novel traces Izzy Gently’s whole from tragedy on the ranch, through addiction and a rich cast of eccentrics in Texas, to New Orleans, where Izzy is haunted by her past even as she uses lessons from childhood to counsel people who have lost the ability to see the moon.
In The High Heaven, Joshua Wheeler explores American piety as it mutates over the course of the Space Age, as technology changes notions of both humanity and the heavens. Shot through with the speculative while paying homage to three iconic genres—neo-Western, picaresque, and Southern gothic—Izzy’s life story becomes a mirror for the warping of manifest destiny and, ultimately, a testament to the human will to seek meaning from the universe.
Suffused with the absurdist history of American space travel and the wide-open landscapes of the Southwest, The High Heaven chronicles a larger-than-life adventure of one extraordinary woman who, despite tragedy, never loses sight of redemption.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 7, 2025
29 people are currently reading
3480 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Wheeler
2 books63 followersJoshua Wheeler is from Alamogordo, New Mexico. He teaches creative writing at Louisiana State University.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 27, 2025
Read to be inspired to think more about the moon.
The High Heaven follows the life of a mysterious figure named Izzy from her childhood during the Cold War to her adulthood in modern times. The book is as much about her as it is about the deserts, ranches, diners, and motels that she lives and works in throughout New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. You can easily read it as a love letter to the American South and Southwest. I'd still say the book has a character driven narrative. Izzy's story, told almost as a series of several episodes (or "arcs"), is somber, melancholy, and sometimes tragic, but there's also hope, humor, and happiness sprinkled in there. After escaping a cult based around UFOs, she's orphaned young, and any stability she finds doesn't last. She lives a transient and impoverished life. With no identification papers, her existence is somewhat untethered, but she also knows the land extremely well, so she's still fundamentally tethered to it. Even when she hits rock bottom, you can't help but believe she'll be resourceful enough to figure out how to survive
Izzy and the people she meets over the course of her life are likeable as characters, and I had no trouble rooting for them. What I liked most about them is that they feel very realistic. It's the type of fiction that feels true. I was able to shed whatever distance I normally hold between stories and real life. The book is explicitly aware of this distance, and characters wrestle with it all the time. Much of the early chapters are set during the Vietnam War, and nobody fully trusts what they're being told by the government or by anyone else. Nobody even trusts their senses. All pieces of media are inaccurate, and one character describes stories as manufactured. As the decades pass by, nihilism increasingly creeps in. Direct experience with reality feels impossible, but the The High Heaven nevertheless tries so hard to cut through it all. It does its best to offer readers direct experience with these characters by making them feel vivid, raw, tangible, and realistic. They're fictional, but they still sincerely represent something real.
One important early scene regarding the distance between fact and fiction is one in which Izzy is taught a trick to help her talk about tough topics. Instead of admitting to being scared or sad, she is told to act as though the moon is the one with these feelings. The moon is afraid. The moon is sad. The moon is an orphan. The moon escaped a cult. The moon has light leaking out of her eyes for some reason. It distances Izzy from her trauma, which is supposed to make things easier to talk about. However, a few chapters later, NASA starts making plans to send people to the moon. The moon isn't so distant anymore.
Izzy is then understandably drawn to any astronaut clips she can watch on television. The book spends a lot of page time on what starts as Izzy's casual fascination with moon landings, but soon becomes something more akin to an eccentric obsession. The moon ends up serving as one of many metaphors used to explore themes around unknowability and fact versus fiction. When ideas around knowledge and knowability are introduced (usually in the context of religion, the speed of light and information, the shape of the universe, fortunetellers, perception altering drugs, and postmodern skepticism), the point isn't merely to wax philosophical about subjectivity versus objectivity. While I do think the book should appeal to readers who like philosophy, the focus is (usually) more on seeing how these ideas impact characters. Do they understand themselves and each other? Do they communicate authentically and meaningfully? When are they drawn to the truth? When are they drawn to myth?
For me, exploring these questions was an absolute pleasure. I adored almost everything about this book. It has just the right amount of literary experimentation for my taste. The author is playing around with the rules of genre and grammar, but it doesn't feels pointless, overdone, or needlessly challenging. If something doesn't need to be complex, it's kept simple. When things do get complex, it never becomes masturbatory (or—worse—incoherent). It just forced me to read more slowly than I otherwise would have, which is a good thing here. It's a gripping story, but it's also a powerful one that deserves not to be finished in a single sitting. I wanted to linger as long as I could with Izzy, and I did.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
The High Heaven follows the life of a mysterious figure named Izzy from her childhood during the Cold War to her adulthood in modern times. The book is as much about her as it is about the deserts, ranches, diners, and motels that she lives and works in throughout New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. You can easily read it as a love letter to the American South and Southwest. I'd still say the book has a character driven narrative. Izzy's story, told almost as a series of several episodes (or "arcs"), is somber, melancholy, and sometimes tragic, but there's also hope, humor, and happiness sprinkled in there. After escaping a cult based around UFOs, she's orphaned young, and any stability she finds doesn't last. She lives a transient and impoverished life. With no identification papers, her existence is somewhat untethered, but she also knows the land extremely well, so she's still fundamentally tethered to it. Even when she hits rock bottom, you can't help but believe she'll be resourceful enough to figure out how to survive
Izzy and the people she meets over the course of her life are likeable as characters, and I had no trouble rooting for them. What I liked most about them is that they feel very realistic. It's the type of fiction that feels true. I was able to shed whatever distance I normally hold between stories and real life. The book is explicitly aware of this distance, and characters wrestle with it all the time. Much of the early chapters are set during the Vietnam War, and nobody fully trusts what they're being told by the government or by anyone else. Nobody even trusts their senses. All pieces of media are inaccurate, and one character describes stories as manufactured. As the decades pass by, nihilism increasingly creeps in. Direct experience with reality feels impossible, but the The High Heaven nevertheless tries so hard to cut through it all. It does its best to offer readers direct experience with these characters by making them feel vivid, raw, tangible, and realistic. They're fictional, but they still sincerely represent something real.
One important early scene regarding the distance between fact and fiction is one in which Izzy is taught a trick to help her talk about tough topics. Instead of admitting to being scared or sad, she is told to act as though the moon is the one with these feelings. The moon is afraid. The moon is sad. The moon is an orphan. The moon escaped a cult. The moon has light leaking out of her eyes for some reason. It distances Izzy from her trauma, which is supposed to make things easier to talk about. However, a few chapters later, NASA starts making plans to send people to the moon. The moon isn't so distant anymore.
Izzy is then understandably drawn to any astronaut clips she can watch on television. The book spends a lot of page time on what starts as Izzy's casual fascination with moon landings, but soon becomes something more akin to an eccentric obsession. The moon ends up serving as one of many metaphors used to explore themes around unknowability and fact versus fiction. When ideas around knowledge and knowability are introduced (usually in the context of religion, the speed of light and information, the shape of the universe, fortunetellers, perception altering drugs, and postmodern skepticism), the point isn't merely to wax philosophical about subjectivity versus objectivity. While I do think the book should appeal to readers who like philosophy, the focus is (usually) more on seeing how these ideas impact characters. Do they understand themselves and each other? Do they communicate authentically and meaningfully? When are they drawn to the truth? When are they drawn to myth?
For me, exploring these questions was an absolute pleasure. I adored almost everything about this book. It has just the right amount of literary experimentation for my taste. The author is playing around with the rules of genre and grammar, but it doesn't feels pointless, overdone, or needlessly challenging. If something doesn't need to be complex, it's kept simple. When things do get complex, it never becomes masturbatory (or—worse—incoherent). It just forced me to read more slowly than I otherwise would have, which is a good thing here. It's a gripping story, but it's also a powerful one that deserves not to be finished in a single sitting. I wanted to linger as long as I could with Izzy, and I did.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
August 14, 2025
This book was a true page-turner—I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next in Izzy's life. Blending multiple genres and themes, it's difficult to categorize, but that's exactly what makes it so captivating.
Izzy is orphaned at 11 or 12, when the "UFO cult" she belongs to near White Sands in New Mexico is involved in a violent confrontation with law enforcement (coincidentally, on the same day of the Apollo I disaster in 1967). Local rancher Oliver Gently finds her on the side of the road and brings her home, where he and his wife Maude patch her up and try to help her heal psychologically as well. But a sudden tragedy leaves her on her own again, running scared, at only 13.
Izzy is on the run, yet somehow she keeps drawing in lost souls (and broken electronics) along the way. She never misses a NASA event on TV, and these broadcasts become a subtle but powerful backdrop to her life, grounding her no matter where she is.
At some point, her journey shifts—it's no longer about escaping, but about discovering who she is and where she belongs in the world.
Izzy is orphaned at 11 or 12, when the "UFO cult" she belongs to near White Sands in New Mexico is involved in a violent confrontation with law enforcement (coincidentally, on the same day of the Apollo I disaster in 1967). Local rancher Oliver Gently finds her on the side of the road and brings her home, where he and his wife Maude patch her up and try to help her heal psychologically as well. But a sudden tragedy leaves her on her own again, running scared, at only 13.
Izzy is on the run, yet somehow she keeps drawing in lost souls (and broken electronics) along the way. She never misses a NASA event on TV, and these broadcasts become a subtle but powerful backdrop to her life, grounding her no matter where she is.
At some point, her journey shifts—it's no longer about escaping, but about discovering who she is and where she belongs in the world.
December 10, 2025
There’s an incident at a UFO cult in New Mexico, and a young girl is found wandering. Taken in by a childless couple, she has some strange ideas about spaceships coming to collect believers. As she grows up and goes out on her own, her itinerant life is set against a space/tech background from nuclear test sites and Area 51 conspiracies to the fervor surrounding NASA’s Mercury, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. It’s just background, giving us touch points for different periods in her dissolute existence. It’s an interesting journey, but not compelling. The wackiness of the UFO/Alien stuff and the scientific achievements of the NASA programs are both underplayed, leaving most of the focus on the Americana of diners, truck drivers, and dusty highways.
The narration is good. My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeMedia, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #TheHighHeaven for review purposes. The book and audio are currently available.
The narration is good. My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeMedia, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #TheHighHeaven for review purposes. The book and audio are currently available.
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October 20, 2025DNF-gave it a couple chapters, couldn't get into it despite my initial interest in the premise. The vibe was simply not aligned for me at this time.
I think the lack of quotation marks for dialogue really pushed me over the edge of giving up on this. Like ok James Joyce (*makes j/o hand motion*)
I think the lack of quotation marks for dialogue really pushed me over the edge of giving up on this. Like ok James Joyce (*makes j/o hand motion*)
November 30, 2025
I was worried this book would be overstuffed by all the everything it has to cover: The Moon, the space program, space in general, cults, covering decades of a single person's life, the myth of the Wild West, ranch life, the golden age of Hollywood, etc. But Izzy was such a solid anchor and the transitions were done well enough that I found it easy to just go along for the ride. I greatly enjoyed the journey.
November 27, 2025
loved the first half, and especially the story of the gently ranch and oliver as a character, and the climax of the explosion.
the last half was less fun for me. started to feel more like spinning your wheels, unable to go deeper, circling around the same thing. maybe i just don’t care for discussions of streaming and swiping. feels a lot less magical than yesterdays technology.
there is some gorgeous prose in this, and a strong sense of history.
the last half was less fun for me. started to feel more like spinning your wheels, unable to go deeper, circling around the same thing. maybe i just don’t care for discussions of streaming and swiping. feels a lot less magical than yesterdays technology.
there is some gorgeous prose in this, and a strong sense of history.
September 30, 2025
Thank you to Graywolf for the copy I won through Goodreads. I want to make clear that I thought this was going to be more of a traditional type of historical novel than it turned out to be. That being said, the author had a creative “take” on writing an historical novel. I really enjoyed the first part of the book, which took place during the “Vietnam years.” Through the author’s words, I was able to understand how many young people felt during these years. Rather than looking on at the protests at a distance, I felt I was in the midst of them, and the UFO cults seemed really relevant to today’s cultish culture. At times I associated my own slight confusion with the plot with how those who became hooked on drugs after the war felt – before indulging (to help with their anxiety) and after their indulging (dealing with the
aftereffects of pot or stronger drugs). I enjoyed Izzy as a character. She – as well as the other main characters were real, not the stereotypical characters we usually see in historical novels. I also liked the idea that Izzy remained hopeful, even in the darkest of times. Because I was fascinated with the space program at the time, I enjoyed the references to the Apollo mission and chuckled at Izzy’s attempts to always find a TV so she could watch the flights into space. She was a combination of a child filled with wonder and a caring adult who wanted to help others.
I was once a non-traditional high school English teacher who paid a great deal of attention to the content of students’ writing rather than focus mainly on correct grammar (a real “no-no” according to my fellow teachers). It is not surprising, then, that I enjoyed the different style of writing in this novel. Initially I found myself turning the pages to find out what Izzy would be up to next; however, about three-quarters of the way through the book, I began to lose interest. New Orleans didn’t have the magic that New Mexico did, and I never identified with the people who couldn’t see the moon. Perhaps I am more of a traditional reader than I thought.
November 30, 2025
Izzy Gently is a familiar type of protagonist in American literature: young, orphaned, naive, something of a misfit, and on the run--in her case, from law enforcement and the U.S military. Found by a rancher on the side of the road after a fire destroys the New Mexico cult encampment where she had lived with her mother, the traumatized girl can't recall exactly what happened except that they had been awaiting a supernatural event that God would announce to them via radio or television signals. Though the rancher is able to protect Izzy for a while, a violent crime disrupts this arrangement and forces her into a life underground.
Izzy's story unfolds over several decades against the backdrop of NASA's expanding lunar missions, and no matter where her path as an outlaw takes her, Izzy never stops looking to the moon--and to radiowaves--for clues or messages about who she is and why her life has taken such turns. Over the years, she waits tables; assists a scam-artist geologist; becomes a marijuana farmer; manages light shows for an aquarium dolphin act; becomes a healer of sorts.All the while, she hopes that more sophisticated technology and moon imaging might bring her deeper into the mysteries of her existence. But she discovers only that some truths will forever remain just beyond the horizon of knowability.
Wheeler's prose is rich in detail and incident, referencing astronomy, classical mythology, geopolitics, and actual events-- including Apollo missions and Hurricane Katrina--while weaving threads of irony, violence, and paranoia throughout. Though I don't know who the author considers his literary mentors, I suspect the influence of Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O'Connor, and Thomas Pynchon. Which is to say: this is a heady book and a wild ride. It is also repetitious and sometimes mannered. Readers may wish for more clarity than Wheeler is willing to divulge in the end, but they are not likely to forget this intriguing novel.
Izzy's story unfolds over several decades against the backdrop of NASA's expanding lunar missions, and no matter where her path as an outlaw takes her, Izzy never stops looking to the moon--and to radiowaves--for clues or messages about who she is and why her life has taken such turns. Over the years, she waits tables; assists a scam-artist geologist; becomes a marijuana farmer; manages light shows for an aquarium dolphin act; becomes a healer of sorts.All the while, she hopes that more sophisticated technology and moon imaging might bring her deeper into the mysteries of her existence. But she discovers only that some truths will forever remain just beyond the horizon of knowability.
Wheeler's prose is rich in detail and incident, referencing astronomy, classical mythology, geopolitics, and actual events-- including Apollo missions and Hurricane Katrina--while weaving threads of irony, violence, and paranoia throughout. Though I don't know who the author considers his literary mentors, I suspect the influence of Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O'Connor, and Thomas Pynchon. Which is to say: this is a heady book and a wild ride. It is also repetitious and sometimes mannered. Readers may wish for more clarity than Wheeler is willing to divulge in the end, but they are not likely to forget this intriguing novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2025
Joshua Wheeler’s The High Heaven is a striking multi genre debut that charts one woman’s extraordinary journey through faith, tragedy, and redemption across the American West during the Space Age. The novel seamlessly blends neo-Western, picaresque, and Southern gothic elements, creating a narrative that is as expansive and unpredictable as the landscapes it depicts.
The story of Izzy Gently is both compelling and profoundly human. Orphaned during a violent clash involving a doomsday cult, Izzy’s life unfolds against a backdrop of technological and social change, from the encroachment of NASA rocket tests on rural New Mexico to the eccentric characters she encounters across Texas and New Orleans. Wheeler’s ability to weave speculative elements with historical and cultural context adds depth and nuance, making Izzy’s personal struggles feel both universal and intimate.
Wheeler’s prose captures the absurdist beauty of American space history while exploring themes of faith, human resilience, and the search for meaning in an ever changing world. The novel’s rich characterization and sweeping narrative arcs offer readers both adventure and insight, creating a story that lingers long after the last page. The High Heaven is a powerful debut, demonstrating Wheeler’s skill at merging genre innovation with literary sophistication.
The story of Izzy Gently is both compelling and profoundly human. Orphaned during a violent clash involving a doomsday cult, Izzy’s life unfolds against a backdrop of technological and social change, from the encroachment of NASA rocket tests on rural New Mexico to the eccentric characters she encounters across Texas and New Orleans. Wheeler’s ability to weave speculative elements with historical and cultural context adds depth and nuance, making Izzy’s personal struggles feel both universal and intimate.
Wheeler’s prose captures the absurdist beauty of American space history while exploring themes of faith, human resilience, and the search for meaning in an ever changing world. The novel’s rich characterization and sweeping narrative arcs offer readers both adventure and insight, creating a story that lingers long after the last page. The High Heaven is a powerful debut, demonstrating Wheeler’s skill at merging genre innovation with literary sophistication.
July 18, 2025
Thank you Graywolf Galley Club for the ARC!
I really enjoyed this book. First, the characters (especially Izzy) are fun to get to know and follow through their journeys. Second, the themes and recurring imagery of the moon & space intertwined with the western & southern settings set a tone of mysticism I adore. Third, this story is based in reality and pop culture is interspersed throughout, which offers a unique perspective on culture-defining moments.
The quick, no spoilers, summary is Izzy is found at 7 wandering in the New Mexican mountains and is discovered by a rancher (Oliver) who takes her in. In time, her origins of being born in a cult are revealed and that sets her trajectory for the story. Izzy faces many trials and tribulations as she survived incredibly traumatic beginnings. Her story changes significantly as she ages, especially with her relationships with other people (and how she interacts with others).
I highly recommend this book! It feels like it was meant to be a limited series on HBO (I’d LOVE to see how a director would portray this story), and the book is just as binge-able.
I really enjoyed this book. First, the characters (especially Izzy) are fun to get to know and follow through their journeys. Second, the themes and recurring imagery of the moon & space intertwined with the western & southern settings set a tone of mysticism I adore. Third, this story is based in reality and pop culture is interspersed throughout, which offers a unique perspective on culture-defining moments.
The quick, no spoilers, summary is Izzy is found at 7 wandering in the New Mexican mountains and is discovered by a rancher (Oliver) who takes her in. In time, her origins of being born in a cult are revealed and that sets her trajectory for the story. Izzy faces many trials and tribulations as she survived incredibly traumatic beginnings. Her story changes significantly as she ages, especially with her relationships with other people (and how she interacts with others).
I highly recommend this book! It feels like it was meant to be a limited series on HBO (I’d LOVE to see how a director would portray this story), and the book is just as binge-able.
July 31, 2025
You've got the basic gist of this book if you've read the publisher's short version. If the back cover or the jacket flaps could contain another dozen paragraphs, you'd realize just how much more this novel contains, and there'd still be more. But why spoil the surprise?
This book is the American story on steroids, funnier than you would think possible, and a testament to our love of myth more than facts. From the cold war and space race New Mexico desert, West Texas oil fields and East Texas backwoods culture, to New Orleans celebrations in between struggles.
Drug cultures peculiar to their times, reflections on the absence of night skies and moon blindness, a counter-rotational horse, space monkeys, the golden age of TV news and the seduction of the internet, it just keeps layering in with relevance, and yet there's more!
Mow the yard and rake the leaves next week. Consider reading this sober. If you can't, keep some anti-anxiety pills handy. Shoot the moon! Then try and describe what you just read. It's worth the effort. Loved it!
This book is the American story on steroids, funnier than you would think possible, and a testament to our love of myth more than facts. From the cold war and space race New Mexico desert, West Texas oil fields and East Texas backwoods culture, to New Orleans celebrations in between struggles.
Drug cultures peculiar to their times, reflections on the absence of night skies and moon blindness, a counter-rotational horse, space monkeys, the golden age of TV news and the seduction of the internet, it just keeps layering in with relevance, and yet there's more!
Mow the yard and rake the leaves next week. Consider reading this sober. If you can't, keep some anti-anxiety pills handy. Shoot the moon! Then try and describe what you just read. It's worth the effort. Loved it!
September 1, 2025
I received a digital NetGalley ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Joshua Wheeler and Graywolf Press for the opportunity!
This book reads like both a twisted celebration and a social commentary on the obsession the world, but especially the United States, has with the idea of space travel. From UFO cults to the moon landings and all of the ordinary people caught in the crossfire, to the impact all of this chaos has on a young girl trying to restart her life after having escaped from it all. This book was surreal and engaging, and I never quite knew what the next turn was going to bring.
This book reads like both a twisted celebration and a social commentary on the obsession the world, but especially the United States, has with the idea of space travel. From UFO cults to the moon landings and all of the ordinary people caught in the crossfire, to the impact all of this chaos has on a young girl trying to restart her life after having escaped from it all. This book was surreal and engaging, and I never quite knew what the next turn was going to bring.
November 27, 2025
This is one of my favorite reads of this year. The prose is magnificent. Lyrical and sweeping. A blend of the surreal and the sublime. Wheeler is a writer's writer, and this novel deserves to be considered for all the major prizes.
December 1, 2025
Historical fiction that uses the story of a UFO cult in New Mexico as a starting point with the space missions as plot through points, this had a great first third but slowed down for me when the location moved to Texas and New Orleans.
October 11, 2025
One wants to hit all these new writers across the face and shout, “you will never be Cormac McCarthy!” And who wants to be, anyway…
October 22, 2025
Read this on the plane straight!
November 12, 2025
A slow-paced, interestingly & beautifully written, vibes kind of book. I would not recommend it widely but if you like strange slow books then this might be for you.
December 19, 2025
Hard to get into
December 19, 2025
I appreciated how historical and cultural events were interwoven with the characters' story and Izzy was entertaining. There were some brief episodes of violence I could have done without.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews