First published 1999
Rayona feels caught between worlds on the reservation where her grandmother Ida lives. Her mother Christine has left her here, but Rayona struggles to understand why her family feels so fractured. Christine carries her own burden of resentment toward Ida, the woman who raised her with such stern distance. Ida watches both younger women and remembers the choices that shaped their family's path. Each woman holds pieces of their shared story, but none sees the complete picture. The truth about their connections runs deeper than blood, rooted in decisions made long before Rayona was born. As their individual stories unfold, moving backward through time, the weight of unspoken truths becomes clear. Three generations of women have carried anger and secrets, each protecting the others from painful knowledge while creating new wounds in the process. Their family's survival depends on understanding how love and sacrifice can look like abandonment.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Reservation
Period: 20th-Century
Library Binding · Bt Bound