by Tommy Orange
First published 2018
Jacquie Red Feather steps off the bus in Oakland, newly sober and desperate to reconnect with the family she abandoned. Across the city, fourteen-year-old Orvil practices traditional dance moves in secret, preparing for his first powwow performance. Dene Oxendene sets up his video equipment at the event, determined to honor his deceased uncle's memory by documenting Native stories. These three lives intersect with nine others as they all head toward the Big Oakland Powwow. Each character carries the weight of urban Native experience, navigating between ancestral traditions and contemporary struggles. Their individual journeys toward the powwow reveal a web of relationships they don't yet understand. The gathering becomes a focal point where personal histories, family secrets, and cultural identity collide in unexpected ways.
Genres: american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, native-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intersecting-lives
Setting: Oakland
Period: Contemporary
304 pages · Hardcover · Knopf