hardcover, 494 pages
Published March 2, 2021 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).
Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.
As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.
The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but …
Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.
As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.
The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.
Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
I really enjoyed this book. I appreciated its representation of indigenous themes, characters, and settings. Readers should be aware though that there are scenes of murder/death and sexual violence in this book and one of the main themes is the destructive power of drug addiction. If you are able to handle that, then I think you will really enjoy this book.
Secret squirrel? I get it’s a YA novel, but there’s just too much I couldn’t swallow. The endless repeating of the secret squirrel term Daunis used to describe her snooping for the law enforcement quickly stopped being funny and turned from amusing to annoying.
A teenage girl with dubious grasp of reality being recruited by FBI? Nah, don’t think so! I may be just too old for this type of the story and this type of shallow writing and storytelling.
Purchasable
https://www.ebooks.com/en-ca/book/209972718/firekeeper-s-daughter/angeline-boulley/.