Fire Keeper's Daughter

YA chiller 

     It was only weeks ago that I read one of the most amazing books ever.  Since, in the twelve years I've been reviewing for this blog, I've written about 2521 books 📚 that's really saying something.  And that doesn't touch the books I reviewed for the Bangor Daily News in the past.  When I got to the last page of Angeline Boulley's Warrior Girl Unearthed I checked to see if she'd written anything else.  I was thrilled to see that she had an earlier volume, Fire Keeper's Daughter, that allows her fans to visit or revisit the rich setting and complex characters of her newer book.

     Fire Keeper's Daughter is set earlier in time in the early aughts.  The twins who will be the center of Warrior Girl Unearthed are still children.  The narrator is their then teen age Aunt Daunis.  The plot is rich and suspenseful.  The characters are well rounded.  And an important issue is central to the narrative.

     "But then terror grips my heart again.  The gun.  Back at my face.  

     Mom.  She won't survive my death.  One bullet will kill us both...

     I am thinking of my mother when the blast changes everything."

     Daunis had been planning to leave home to attend a state university.  That was before her family was hit by tragedies.  Her uncle died unexpectedly in April.  Her grandmother suffered a massive stroke in June.  She's in a long term care facility with increasingly slimmer chances of going home.  So now Daunis is deferring admission to take classes at a local college.  Her mother, who is falling to pieces, needs her.  And maybe if she stays at home she can prevent a third tragedy.

     "I need answers as to why a cop is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, posing as a high school senior.  On my brother's team.  Because my best friend is dead, and Jamie Johnson has something to do with it."

     It turns out that Jamie and his uncle, Ron, not their real names, are undercover law enforcement officers representing the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  They're investigating a wave of methamphetamine distribution in reservations and 🏒 circuit towns in her area.  At the time of his death her beloved uncle had been working with Jamie and Ron as a confidential informant.

     Jamie and Ron convince Daunis to take his place in the investigation.  She's going to learn some ugly truths about members of her beloved community and risking everything including her life.

     If you're a fan of Warrior Girl Unearthed you'll want to read this most excellent prequel.  If you've read neither of these fine books 📚 you are in for a double treat.  Don't waste a minute getting your hands on them.

On a purrrsonal note, I'm almost at the end of my second week of fall semester.  So far so good.  Last night Wilson Center had an outdoor program.  After the meal we discussed aspects of our personal and social identities in small groups.  Today will be fun.  There will be a meeting for students in the group who will be graduating in the spring.  Going part time I've seen my peers walk.  Now it will be my turn.  Following that there will an ice cream 🍦 social for everyone in the program.  It will be such a fun event.  It's such a congenial group.  And Elizabeth's house is warm and inviting: beautifully kept up but not so perfect I'd be afraid of spilling something.  Honestly I don't know how she keeps it up in addition to all her professional responsibilities.  I'm just a student, but I have a hard time planning and cooking meals for Eugene and me, especially the days when I have night 🌙 events and I need to have something in the fridge my guy can heat and eat.  (Jules)

I'm low maintenance.  Canned cat food and bagged cat treats and I'm good to go.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the Wilson Center crew and you, our readers, with best wishes for a fabulous or at least restful weekend.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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