Sisters in the Wind: From the award-winning author of Firekeeper's Daughter

Boulley revisits key characters from her New York Times Bestseller Firekeeper's Daughter five years into the future in this explosive thriller which fizzes with action, danger and intrigue from the start. Influenced by Nancy Drew and gothic romance mystery novels, her storytelling is fuelled with an authentic voice.

As an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and a former director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education, Angeline interweaves native issues with dream-like prose and indigenous representation into a high stakes plot. Each of her YA novels draws upon the traditions of the Anishinaabe, the cadences of the Ojibwemowin language and the atmospheric setting of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She has described how she chooses an element as her starting point, which she builds upon with pertinent themes and flashbacks, creating tension and suspense.

Sisters in the Wind shines a spotlight on the history of stolen Native children, reflecting how they were "tossed to the winds"; the perils of a flawed foster care system and the defects in the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act legislation.

When a mysterious lawyer called Jamie turns up at the café where troubled teen Lucy works in an attempt to reconnect her with her family, she is shell-shocked and suspicious. As a biracial 18-year-old girl with Ojibwe heritage, she is a survivor who has faced many challenges and been told lies. Can she learn to trust again? Can kind hearted Jamie and the indefatigable Daunis, who are carrying trauma of their own from their time on Sugar Island, help her reclaim her identity? Why is she being pursued? Will the darkness of her past swallow her?

The strength of Lucy's character resulted in marathon writing sessions for Boulley. She explained, "It was as if I needed to induce a fugue-like state for Lucy to reveal anything". At the heart of the book is the vulnerability of teens who have been deprived of their birth right by being separated from their family, their communities and their faith. The author doesn't balk at addressing hard hitting issues like addiction, abuse and the dangers young Native women can face. Boulley believes "that stories are good medicine; stories are powerful; books do save lives". Like Warrior Girl Unearthed, Sisters in the Wind is a standalone with echoes from the other books, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride through twists and turns, until they learn what the future holds for Jamie and Daunis.

Sisters in the Wind is emotive, insightful, intense and deftly plotted, acting as a mirror for teens looking for stories about Native Indian identity and a window for readers eager to learn more about indigenous cultures and the injustice of cultural assimilation.

384 pages / Reviewed by Tanja Jennings, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 14+