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The tragic tale of a Montana family ripped apart by scandal and murder: “a significant and elegant addition to the fiction of the American West” (Washington Post).
In the summer of 1948, twelve-year-old David Hayden witnessed and experienced a series of cataclysmic events that would forever change the way he saw his family. The Haydens had been pillars of their small Montana town: David’s father was the town sheriff; his uncle Frank was a war hero and respected doctor. But the family’s solid foundation was suddenly shattered by a bombshell revelation.
The Hayden’s Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier, tells them that Frank has been sexually assaulting his female Indian patients for years—and that she herself was his latest victim. As the tragic fallout unravels around David, he learns that truth is not what one believes it to be, that power is abused, and that sometimes one has to choose between loyalty and justice.
Winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize
“Meditative, rich, and written close to the bone.” —Louise Erdrich
“Utterly mesmerizing . . . Fiction at its finest.” —The Nation
“A taut, memorable novel.” —Publishers Weekly
“Be prepared to read this compact book in one sitting.” —Baltimore Sun
“A spare, unpretentious but riveting book . . . deeply felt and honest.” —Houston Chronicle
“A quiet, almost meditative reflection on the hopelessly complex issue of doing the right thing.” —Booklist