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.
Winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award (Best Western
Traditional Novel)
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.
