Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions - and deaths - keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known. (https://amzn.to/3KXum2l)

(Photo is mine; I took a screenshot of the audiobook on the Hoopla app)

I could talk about this book for hours, so I'll try to keep it fairly brief. 

The first word that comes to mind when I try to describe Firekeeper’s Daughter is “heavy.” I enjoyed it, but I also had the wind knocked out of me a few times — sometimes because of a stunning plot twist and sometimes because the subject matter was more than I expected from a YA novel (more on that later).

I had the privilege of listening to Angeline Boulley’s masterpiece as an audiobook, read by Isabella Star LaBlanc. The book includes a lot of the Ojibwe Nation’s language (Anishinaabemowin). It is a beautiful language, and I enjoyed hearing the words spoken by a Native speaker instead of trying to sound them out myself. The Anishinaabemowin words are not defined or explained. There is no glossary. Boulley explains like this:

"I think that when you include a glossary, you’re automatically, for lack of a better word, white-censoring the book. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted the Ojibwe language to be so organic to the story that you could figure out what the words meant by context. And yeah, I didn’t include a pronunciation guide. Part of that is—okay, this part might not be very nice—but how does it feel to not know how to pronounce things, or to wonder if you’re doing it correctly? Because that is the experience of so many people with English. My story is Ojibwe, and I’m putting the words in where they feel well-suited, but I’m not going to spoon-feed people about it. If you want to know the words, then do the work."

Boulley weaves Native culture, language, traditions and history throughout the book in a way that is engaging and detailed. I loved every moment of it. Daunis cherishes her Ojibwe heritage, which I feel is often lacking in media. It seems that, on top of having little representation of cultures other than white America, when other cultures are represented, younger characters are embarrassed or annoyed by their heritage. I love seeing media that fully embraces Indigenous cultures. I learned so much and it made me curious to learn even more.

Boulley said, "I thought that people would pick up the book for the thriller aspect, but when they turn that final page and close the book, what was going to stay with them was the themes of coming-of-age and grief and identity and justice, or rather, injustice."

I can honestly say that she is right. I started Firekeeper's Daughter because it sounded interesting, and because books by and about Native women are rare. And also because the cover art is GORGEOUS. But the book gave me so much more than just an interesting read. I would love to hear your thoughts when you read it!

Happy reading!

Hannah

Trigger warning: rape

The novel does include a rape scene. It is handled with care, but could be triggering or frightening for readers. I think rape scenes in media are usually entirely unnecessary, but the way it was written resonated with me. The way the survivor processes their emotions and braces to be blamed for the incident were well-crafted representation of the thoughts many victims of sexual violence experience. In addition, the end of the book ties the event into the victim's story in such a beautiful way that offers hope and possibly healing to survivors who read it. I might not have read the book if I had known the scene would be included, but I am glad I did anyway.

That said, the scene messed me up for the rest of the day, so proceed with awareness and caution.