Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

 Happy Indigenous People Day!  I taught environmental engineering technology for six years at a local college that happens to be on Indigenous land.  I had many students from several tribes, and it was very eye opening to me to learn about the cultures of modern-day Indigenous tribes as well as past treatment that I had no idea about.  These stories need to be heard and be a part of our present day culture. 

 Daunis Fontaine is an eighteen-year-old girl living in Sault St. Marie Michigan trying to determine her next steps in life.  Daunis is half Ojibwe and is trying to find where she belongs in her two worlds. She was a powerful high school hockey player and is set to go to the University of Michigan to major in premed.  After her uncle’s death and grandmother’s hospitalization, Daunis decides to stay near her family and friends and attend Lake Superior State University in town.  After a mysterious death, Daunis uses her knowledge of both science and Native American medicine to try to solve the mystery that is plaguing her community.

 I love, love, loved this novel.  It straddles many different genres and is hard to describe succinctly.  It is a great thriller story with trying to figure out the mystery.  It is a great coming of age story as Daunis tries to figure out what she wants in life and how decisions of her family in the past affect her in the present.  It is a great young adult novel as she tries to figure out what is important in life, love, and family.

 Firekeeper’s Daughter is an #OwnVoices tale and is written by Angeline Boulley who is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.  I loved the immersion in the Ojibwe community, its language, history, traditions, troubles, etc.  There are so many tribes around the United States and their stories are hard to find.  I loved that this novel had a very strong Ojibwe woman that is part of her modern tribe.

 I loved the setting in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The hockey, pasties, locations, etc. were wonderful.  I last visited Sault Ste. Marie in 2001, just a few years before this story was set in 2004.  I attended Michigan Tech in the U.P. and now live in Northeastern Wisconsin.  The culture captured in this novel represents a large part of northern Michigan and Wisconsin.  I love finally having a book that shows that cleaning the snow off of a girl’s car is a declaration of love.  Michigan Tech was mentioned a few times as well, although I was wishing for a road trip to Houghton, I did get one to Green Bay.

 This novel does contain drugs, murder, violence against indigenous women, and sexual assault.

 Favorite Quotes:

“It’s hard when someone says they love you, but they need to contain and control the things that make you you.”

 “Love honors your spirit.  Not just the other person’s but your own spirit too.”

 “Hockey brings my community together.  Native and non-Native.  All ages.  All neighborhoods.  Here is Chi Mukwa, a community recreation building funded by the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe, everyone stands united for our team.”

 “No guy should have that kind of power over you.  No matter who his is or how much everyone adores him.  Or how much you might still want him.”

 “I set out to write Firekeeper’s Daughter, because there are simply too few stories told by and about Native Americans, especially from a contemporary point of view.  We exist and have dynamic experiences beyond history books or stories set long ago.” – from the Author’s Note.

 Overall, Firekeeper’s Daughter is a not to be missed thriller with a great strong Native American heroine.

 Book Source:  Purchased from Meijer.