From the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Maud's Line, an epic novel that follows a web of complex family alliances and culture clashes in the Cherokee Nation during the aftermath of the Civil War, and the unforgettable woman at its center.
It's the early spring of 1875 in the Cherokee Nation West. A
baby, a black hired hand, a bay horse, a gun, a gold stash, and a
preacher have all gone missing. Cherokee America Singer, known as
"Check," a wealthy farmer, mother of five boys, and soon-to-be widow, is
not amused.
In this epic of the American frontier, several
plots intertwine around the heroic and resolute Check: her son is caught
in a compromising position that results in murder; a neighbor
disappears; another man is killed. The tension mounts and the violence
escalates as Check's mixed race family, friends, and neighbors come
together to protect their community—and painfully expel one of their
own.
Cherokee America vividly, and often with humor,
explores the bonds—of blood and place, of buried histories and half-told
tales, of past grief and present injury—that connect a colorful,
eclectic cast of characters, anchored by the clever, determined, and
unforgettable Check.
