This Depression-era novel by William Kent Krueger is one of his stand-alone books about 3 youths who escape one of the notorious "Indian Training Schools" and a young orphan girl in the care of horrible superintendents of the school. They go in search of different things--sense of self, family, home. They are tied together by friendship, by kinship and by terrible events that preceded their leaving and which now mean they are hunted by the law. They are thrown out into a United States that is starkly divided between the haves and the have-nots, the latter being where they typically find support and generosity. Starting out in a canoe on the Gilead River, they eventually make it to the Missouri and then the Mississippi in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their travels are beset by difficult times and dangerous people as well as empathetic helpers--all of which stress their relationships to one another.
Library Journal says, " It's a remarkable story of a search for home that also reveals the abusive treatment of Native American children in schools and the wanderings of people during the Depression." Booklist agrees that this "... is more than a simple journey; it is a deeply satisfying odyssey, a quest in search of self and home. Richly imagined and exceptionally well plotted and written, the novel is, most of all, a compelling, often haunting story that will captivate both adult and young adult readers. Publishers Weekly calls it a "heartland epic" in which "the constant threat of danger propels the story at a steady clip." One reviewer (Parade) aptly compares it to Where the Crawdads Sing. The Historical Novel Society praises inn concluding their review, "Crafted in exquisitely beautiful prose, this is a story to be treasured – outstanding and unforgettable."
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