Stealing A novel

Verble, a Pulitzer finalist for Maud's Line, draws on the abuses at Native American and First Nations boarding schools for her blistering latest, set in the 1950s somewhere along the Arkansas River. Nine-year-old Kit Crockett has been lonely since the death of her Cherokee mother; her white father cares for her as best he can. When glamorous Bella moves into a nearby cabin that used to be Kit's uncle's, Kit revels in the woman's maternal affection, but the locals aren't very welcoming toward the outsider, who descends from a "stew" of Native and white ancestors. In the aftermath of a tragedy, the details of which are made clear near the end, local clerical and legal authorities compel Kit to attend a nearby boarding school, where she and other Native girls are subjected to prejudice and abuse. Kit's only solace is her journal, in which she traces her friendship with Bella and chronicles the school's mistreatment of students. Kit's realistically naive perspective and her appealingly digressive narration build suspense and intrigue as readers slowly grasp the scale of the losses that will shape her life. Evoking the title, the varied meanings of "steal" (both to abscond and to creep) weave throughout the story in clever ways. Verble's skillful storytelling does justice to a harrowing chapter of history. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)

A young Cherokee girl in the 1950s American South narrates the events resulting in her placement in a residential school. Karen "Kit" Crockett is just a girl, but she's already experienced more loss than most. Her mother, who was Cherokee, died of tuberculosis, leaving Kit alone at the age of 6 with her White father. Shortly after, Kit's Uncle Joe (her mother's brother) is killed in a knife fight. It's Joe's loss and the vacancy of the home he lived in just down the rural road from Kit that lead to the first good thing in Kit's life since her mother died. A woman in her late 20s moves into Joe's cabin, and she and Kit strike up a friendship. Bella is not like anyone Kit's met before. A divorcée, Bella lives alone but has multiple male friends who come and go. She is by turns effusive and anxious, though Kit is honored by Bella's attention and sometimes clingy in her need of her company. But some locals' dislike of Bella confuses Kit, and it isn't until a shocking crime occurs that Kit can see the true costs of not fitting in--for her and Bella both. Kit is a loquacious narrator who weaves back and forth between the lead-up and aftermath of the crime and her present life at the residential school she was sent to. Her plucky tone can seem at odds with the dark tale, and though it's perhaps true to the nature of a child storyteller, it can be distracting when Kit repeats herself or meanders in the narrative. (She devotes a great deal of time to details of fishing expeditions, for example.) Nevertheless, Verble tells a memorable and sobering story about injustice, hypocrisy, and resilience. Verble upholds her legacy of indelible Cherokee characters--and weaves a dynamic mystery, too. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.