Looking back, Joe Coutts, an Ojibwe lawyer, recalls the summer of his 13th
year. He was the only child of the tribal judge and tribal clerk of the Ojibwe nation; a beloved
child in a warm and happy family. Until his mother is raped, and the brutal
rapist attempts to kill her. Although she escapes, she cannot recover from
the experience, never leaving her bedroom. The lives of the entire family are
disrupted.Joe becomes obsessed with getting his mother "back," determined to find and punish the rapist on his own. He is scared and angry, and wants revenge. Joe and his friends start playing detective, though his father, wanting to protect him as much as possible, tries to warn him away. The rapist is identified, but the location of the rape on the reservation means that tribal courts are in charge, but Caucasians cannot be prosecuted.
Though this is a crime story, it also is a search for justice, and an examination of life on the reservation. The land can no long support them, and the culture has been compromised as they have been forced to live in the confines of the reservation .Legal jurisdiction over crimes involving Native Americans now involves tribal officials, state police, and even the FBI. It is a labyrinth of tangled laws and jurisdictions, and Joe decides to take matters into his own hands.
A powerful novel.
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