Emmy Nolan is a shy sixteen-year-old girl living a sheltered life in Sacramento when a phone call comes from an aunt she never knew she had. Fifteen years earlier, Emmy’s mom, Kate, had fled her tiny eastern Washington hometown and the fundamentalist church that had condemned her for having a child out of wedlock. With baby Emmy on her hip, Kate had boarded a bus, leaving behind her beloved sister, Beth. Now, Kate cannot say no to Beth’s desperate plea: She needs Emmy to participate in a faith healing ceremony. She believes it is her last chance to have a child.
I was totally engrossed in this book and intrigued by the story of Reuben, a Native American boy who befriends Emmy. I know very little about the lives of American Indians in America today and was surprised at how much animosity there was between the people who lived on the local reservation and the "white" people in the town.
I was surprised also to learn that this is Heather Brittain Bergstrom's first novel. She's an amazing writer.
A big thank you to Mason over at Thoughts in Progress - I received the book as a winning entry for one of her giveaways.
