Between earth and sky

Amanda Skenandore

Large print - 2018

On a quiet Philadelphia morning in 1906, a newspaper headline catapults Alma Mitchell back to her past. A federal agent is dead, and the murder suspect is Alma's childhood friend, Harry Muskrat. Harry -- or Asku, as Alma knew him -- was the most promising student at the "savage-taming" boarding school run by her father, where Alma was the only white pupil. Created in the wake of the Indian Wars, the Stover School was intended to assimilate the children of neighboring reservations. Instead, it robbed them of everything they'd known -- language, customs, even their names -- and left a heartbreaking legacy in its wake. The bright, courageous boy Alma knew could never have murdered anyone. But she barely recognizes the man A...sku has become, cold and embittered at being an outcast in the white world and a ghost in his own. Her lawyer husband, Stewart, reluctantly agrees to help defend Asku for Alma's sake. To do so, Alma must revisit the painful secrets she has kept hidden from everyone, especially Stewart.

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Subjects
Genres
Historical fiction
Legal fiction (Literature)
Published
Waterville, Me. : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company 2018.
Language
English
Main Author
Amanda Skenandore (author)
Edition
Large print edition
Item Description
A reissue of the Kensington Books edition (New York, 2018).
Physical Description
567 pages (large print) ; 23 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 560-561).
ISBN
9781432851118
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

In 1881 Wisconsin, Alma is the only white pupil in a savage-taming school where her father is schoolmaster. While he forces his Native American pupils to adopt white names, language, and culture, Alma makes friends by learning their true language. When, at age 14, Alma mistakes her need to belong for love, her naïveté leads to tragedy and exile. In 1906 Philadelphia, Alma, now 39, keeps her past a secret. But when she learns that Harry, a childhood friend, stands accused of murder, she asks her lawyer husband Stewart to help clear him. Stewart agrees, but, when rebuffed by Harry, he turns to Alma for an explanation. The truth about her past with Harry could put her marriage at risk. By describing its costs in human terms, the author shapes tension between whites and Native Americans into a touching story. The title of Skenandore's debut could refer to reality and dreams, or to love and betrayal; all are present in this highly original novel.--Greene, Jeanne Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Skenandore's intensely emotional debut reveals the difficulties faced by Native Americans who were torn from their culture to integrate into a white society where they were not accepted. In 1906, after Alma Mitchell reads a newspaper article about her childhood friend, Harry Muskrat, being on trial for murdering a federal agent, she asks her attorney husband Stewart to defend Harry in court. The narrative alternates between 1906, when Alma and Stewart travel from their home in Philadelphia to Wisconsin to aid in Harry's defense, and the late 19th century, when Alma made friends with her classmates at Stover, the Native American school managed by her father. Though Alma had Native American friends, learned their language, and saw them as equals, she never truly understood their plight after they were forced from their land to assimilate into white culture. As Alma visits the White Earth reservation as an adult and helps her husband investigate the murder, she is disturbed by the poverty she sees and how the Native Americans have been taken advantage of. Alma's conversations with Harry lead her to examine her motivation to help him and to realize she must come to terms with the tragedies of her past, and how her inability to understand the cultural divide may have contributed to the death of someone she loved. Skenandore's deeply introspective and moving novel will appeal to readers of American history, particularly those interested in the dynamics behind the misguided efforts of white people to better the lives of Native Americans by forcing them to adopt white cultural mores. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

DEBUT Wisconsin, 1881. Young Alma Blanchard welcomes the 37 indigenous students from neighboring reservations who have arrived to attend the new boarding school run by her father. While the students must assimilate by learning a new language and way of life, Alma, the only white pupil, absorbs a variety of their native dialects as she tries to earn their friendship and trust. She also learns hard lessons about racism and social injustice. One heartbreaking incident during her teenage years causes her to break ties with her family. Fast forward 15 years after Amanda fled her parents and forged a new life in Philadelphia. She has put heartbreak behind her-or has she?-and marries a lawyer who is unaware of her unusual upbringing. When her childhood friend Asku, now called Harry Muskrat, is charged in the murder of a federal agent, Alma begs her husband to defend him. In doing so, she is forced to reveal her past. VERDICT Toggling her plot between two time lines and drawing on the experiences of a close relative, a member of the Ojibwe tribe, who attended such a boarding school in the 1950s, first novelist Blanchard unfolds a heartbreaking story about the destructive legacy of the forced assimilation of Native American children. Historical fiction readers and book discussion groups will find much to ponder here.-Wendy W. Paige, Shelby Cty. P.L., Morristown, IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.