Firekeeper's Daughter
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for YA
-
-
4.0 • 16 Ratings
-
-
- $18.99
Publisher Description
A ground-breaking, heart-racing thriller perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange
An instant no. 1 New York Times Bestseller, April 4 2021
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for YA Fiction, 2021
Winner of CrimeFest Best YA Crime Fiction Prize, 2022
Shortlisted for Waterstones Children's Book Prize, 2022
A Time magazine pick for Best YA of All Time, 2021
KEEP THE SECRET. LIVE THE LIE. EARN YOUR TRUTH.
Eighteen-year-old Daunis has always felt like an outsider with her mixed heritage, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation.
After she witnesses a shocking murder, Daunis reluctantly agrees to go undercover for the FBI, who are convinced a drug trafficking ring are behind it. But secretly she pursues her own investigation, tracking down the culprits with her knowledge of traditional medicine.
As the bodies pile up, Daunis finds herself caught in a web of deceit that threatens the people she loves the most.
‘Raw and moving’ Cosmopolitan
‘A story that grips like a bulldog clip on your heart’ Katherine Rundell, author of The Good Thieves
‘Thrilling and heartwrenching’ Aisha Bushby, author of A Pocketful of Stars
‘A swift-paced, compelling thriller’ Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With sharp turns and charming characters, this debut thriller by Annishinabe author Boulley centers 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, who loves and fits into her community but yearns for official citizenship in the Sault tribe. Science-minded Daunis had planned on going away for college, but after her uncle overdoses on meth and her grandmother has a stroke, she stays closer to her Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., home, negotiating a complex familial situation having to do with her deceased Annishinabe father. After witnessing her best friend's murder by her meth-reliant boyfriend, she begins looking into the mounting local meth overdoses, using her knowledge of chemistry as well as traditional plants and medicine to source the drug and, amid growing danger, reveal its seller. Featuring prolific use of Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language), this wonderfully tribally specific story offers powerful messages about what it can mean to be an Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman): "complex and sometimes exhausted, but mostly brave." Hitting hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities, this novel will long stand in the hearts of both Native and non-Native audiences. Ages 14–up. Author's agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group.
