Firekeeper's Daughter

By Angeline Boulley

A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER!
A MORRIS AWARD WINNER!
AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK!

A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.

“One of this year's most buzzed about young adult novels.” —Good Morning America

A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection
Amazon's Best YA Book of 2021 So Far (June 2021)
A 2021 Kids' Indie Next List Selection
An Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Selection
A PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection

With four starred reviews, Angeline Boulley's debut novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, perfect for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after 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, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Mar 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250766571

Angeline Boulley

Angeline Boulley is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan. She gained attention for her debut Firekeeper's Daughter thanks to We Need Diverse Books. It became a NYT No. 1 bestseller and has now sold in 20 territories worldwide. The book won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2022; the YA Goodreads Choice Awards; the CrimeFest Best YA Crime Novel Prize.; the ALA Printz Award and Morris Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature; and is Carnegie Medal Nominated. Firekeeper's Daughter is soon to be made into a Netflix series. Angeline lives in Michigan but considers Sugar Island home.

Book preview

PART I

WAABANONG

(EAST)

IN OJIBWE TEACHINGS, ALL JOURNEYS BEGIN IN THE EASTERN DIRECTION.

CHAPTER 1

I start my day before sunrise, throwing on running clothes and laying a pinch of semaa at the eastern base of a tree, where sunlight will touch the tobacco first. Prayers begin with offering semaa and sharing my Spirit name, clan, and where I am from. I always add an extra name to make sure Creator knows who I am. A name that connects me to my father—because I began as a secret, and then a scandal.

I give thanks to Creator and ask for zoongidewin, because I’ll need courage for what I have to do after my five-mile run. I’ve put it off for a week.

The sky lightens as I stretch in the driveway. My brother complains about my lengthy warm-up routine whenever he runs with me. I keep telling Levi that my longer, bigger, and therefore vastly superior muscles require more intensive preparation for peak performance. The real reason, which he would think is dorky, is that I recite the correct anatomical name for each muscle as I stretch. Not just the superficial muscles, but the deep ones too. I want an edge over the other college freshmen in my Human Anatomy class this fall.

By the time I finish my warm-up and anatomy review, the sun peeks through the trees. One ray of light shines on my semaa offering. Niishin! It is good.

My first mile is always hardest. Part of me still wants to be in bed with my cat, Herri, whose purrs are the opposite of an alarm clock. But if I power through, my breathing will find its rhythm, accompanied by the swish of my heavy ponytail. My legs and arms will operate on autopilot. That’s when my mind will wander into the zone, where I’m part of this world but also somewhere else, and the miles pass in a semi-alert haze.

My route takes me through campus. The prettiest view in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is on the other side. I blow a kiss as I run past Lake State’s newest dorm, Fontaine Hall, named after my grandfather on my mother’s side. My grandmother Mary—I call her GrandMary—insisted I wear a dress to the dedication ceremony last summer. I was tempted to scowl in the photos but knew my defiance would hurt Mom more than it would tick off GrandMary.

I cut through the parking lot behind the student union toward the north end of campus. The bluff showcases a gorgeous panoramic view of the St. Marys River, the International Bridge into Canada, and the city of Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. Nestled in the bend of the river east of town is my favorite place in the universe: Sugar Island.

The rising sun hides behind a low, dark cloud at the horizon beyond the island. I halt in place, awestruck. Shafts of light fan out from the cloud, as if Sugar Island is the source of the sun’s rays. A cool breeze ruffles my T-shirt, giving me goose bumps in mid-August.

Ziisabaaka Minising. I whisper in Anishinaabemowin the name for the island, which my father taught me when I was little. It sounds like a prayer. My father’s family, the Firekeeper side, is as much a part of Sugar Island as its spring-fed streams and sugar maple trees.

When the cloud moves on and the sun reclaims her rays, a gust of wind propels me forward. Back to my run and to the task ahead.

---

Forty-five minutes later, I end my run at EverCare, a long-term care facility a few blocks from home. Today’s run felt backward, peaking in the first mile and becoming progressively more difficult. I tried chasing the zone, but it was a mirage just beyond my reach.

Mornin’, Daunis, Mrs. Bonasera, the head nurse says from behind the front desk. Mary had a good night. Your mom’s already here.

Still catching my breath, I give my usual good-morning wave.

The hallway seems to lengthen with each step. I steel myself for possible responses to my announcement. In my imagined scenarios, a single furrowed brow conveys disappointment, annoyance, and the retracting of previous accolades.

Maybe I should wait until tomorrow to announce my decision.

Mrs. B. didn’t need to say anything; the heavy scent of roses in the hallway announces Mom’s presence. When I enter the private room, she’s gently massaging rose-scented lotion on my grandmother’s thin arms. A fresh bouquet of yellow roses adds to the floral saturation level.

GrandMary’s been at EverCare for six weeks now and, the month before that, in the hospital. She had a stroke at my high school graduation party. Visiting every morning is part of the New Normal, which is what I call what happens when your universe is shaken so badly you can never regain the same axis as before. But you try anyway.

My grandmother’s eyes connect with mine. Her left brow raises in recognition. Her right side is unable to convey anything.

Bon matin, GrandMary. I kiss both cheeks before stepping back for her inspection.

In the Before, her scrutiny of my fashion choices bugged the crap out of me. But now? Her one-sided scowl at my oversized T-shirt feels like a perfect slap shot to the top shelf.

See? I playfully lift my hem to reveal yellow spandex shorts. Not half-naked.

Halfway through her barely perceptible eye roll, GrandMary’s gaze turns vacant. It’s like a light bulb behind her eyes that someone switches on and off arbitrarily.

Give her a moment, Mom says, continuing to smooth lotion onto GrandMary’s arms.

I nod and take in GrandMary’s room. The large picture window with a view of a nearby playground. The dry-erase board with the heading HELLO! MY NAME IS MARY FONTAINE, and a line for someone to fill in after MY NURSE. The line after MY GOALS is blank. The vase of roses surrounded by framed photographs. GrandMary and Grandpa Lorenzo on their wedding day. A duo frame with Mom and Uncle David as praying angels in white First Communion outfits. My senior picture fills a silver frame engraved with CLASS OF 2004.

The last picture taken of the four of us Fontaines—me, Mom, Uncle David, and GrandMary—at my final hockey game brings a walnut-sized lump to my throat. I went to sleep many nights listening to Mom and her brother laughing, playing cards, and talking in the language they had invented as children—a hybrid of French, Italian, abbreviated English, and made-up, nonsensical words. But that was before Uncle David died in April and GrandMary, grief-stricken, had an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke two months later.

My mother doesn’t laugh in the New Normal.

She looks up. Her jade green eyes are tired and bloodshot. Instead of sleeping last night, Mom cleaned the house in a frenzy while talking to Uncle as if he were sitting on the sofa watching her dust and mop. She does this often. I wake up during those darkest hours, when my mother confesses her loneliness and regrets to him, unaware that I am fluent in their secret language.

While I wait for my grandmother to return to herself, I retrieve a lipstick from the basket on the bedside table. GrandMary believes in greeting the day with a perfect red smile. Gliding the matte ruby over her thin lips, I remember my earlier plea for courage. To know zoongidewin is to face your fears with a strong heart. My hand twitches; the golden tube of lipstick a jiggling needle on a seismograph.

Mom finishes with the lotion and kisses GrandMary’s forehead. I’ve been on the receiving end of those kisses so often that an echo of one warms my own forehead. I hope GrandMary can feel that good medicine even when the light bulb is off.

When my grandmother was in the hospital, I kept track of how many times she blinked during the same fifteen-minute window each day. Mom didn’t mind my record keeping until she noticed the separate tally marks for LIGHT BULB ON and LIGHT BULB OFF. The overall number of blinks hadn’t changed, but the percentage of alert ones (LIGHT BULB ON divided by total blinks) had begun to decrease. My mother got so upset when she saw my tally that I keep the blink notebook hidden in GrandMary’s private room now, bringing it out only when Mom isn’t here.

It happens. GrandMary blinks and her eyes brighten. LIGHT BULB ON. Just like that, her focus sharpens, and she is once again a mighty force of nature, the Fontaine matriarch.

GrandMary, I say quickly. I’m deferring my admission to U of M and registering for classes at Lake State. Just for freshman year. I hold my breath, anticipating her disappointment in my deviation from the Plan: Daunis Lorenza Fontaine, MD.

At first, I went along with it, hoping to make her proud. I grew up overhearing people whisper with a sort of vicious glee about the Big Scandal of Mary and Lorenzo Fontaine’s Perfect Life. I pretended so well, and for so long, that her plan became my plan. Our plan. I loved that plan. But that was in the Before.

GrandMary fixes me with a gaze as tender as my mother’s kisses. Something passes between my grandmother and me. She understands why I had to alter our plan.

My nose tingles with pre-cry pinpricks from relief, sadness, or both. Maybe there’s a word in Anishinaabemowin for when you find solid footing in the rubble after a tragedy.

Mom rushes around the bed, pulling me into an embrace that whooshes the air from my lungs. Her joyful sobs vibrate through me. I made my mother happy. I knew I would, but I didn’t expect to feel such relief myself. She’s been pushing for me not to go away to college, even encouraging Levi to pester me about it. Mom pleaded with me to fill out the Lake State admissions form back in January as a birthday gift to her. I agreed, thinking there was no way anything would come to pass. Turns out, there was a way.

A bird thuds against the window. My mother startles, releasing me from her grip. I only get three steps toward the window when the bird rises, fluttering to regain equilibrium before resuming its journey.

Gramma Pearl—my Anishinaabe nokomis on my Firekeeper side—considered a bird flying into a window a bad sign. She would rush outside, one leathered brown hand at her mouth, muttering uh-uh-oh at its crooked neck before calling her sisters to figure out which tragedy was just around the corner.

But GrandMary would say it was random and unfortunate. Nothing more than an unintended consequence of a clean window. Indian superstitions are not facts, Daunis.

My Zhaaganaash and Anishinaabe grandmothers could not have been more different. One viewed the world as its surface, while the other saw connections and teachings that run deeper than our known world. Their push and pull on me has been a tug-of-war my entire life.

When I was seven, I spent a weekend at Gramma Pearl’s tar-paper house on Sugar Island. I woke up crying with an earache, but the ferry to the mainland had shut down for the night. She had me pee in a cup, and poured it into my ear as I rested my head in her lap. Back home for Sunday dinner at GrandMary and Grandpa Lorenzo’s, I excitedly shared how smart my other grandmother was. Gramma Pearl fixed my earache with my pee! GrandMary recoiled and, a heartbeat later, glared at my mother as if this was her fault. Something split inside me when I saw my mother’s embarrassment. I learned there were times when I was expected to be a Fontaine and other times when it was safe to be a Firekeeper.

Mom returns to GrandMary, moving the cashmere blanket aside to massage lotion on a spindly, alabaster leg. She’s exhausting herself looking after my grandmother. Mom is convinced she will recover. My mother has never been good at accepting unpleasant truths.

A week ago, I woke up during one of Mom’s cleaning frenzies.

I’ve lost so much, David. And now her. When Daunis leaves, j’disparaîtrai.

She used the French word for disappear. To fade or pass away.

Eighteen years ago, my arrival changed my mother’s world. Ruined the life her parents had preordained for her. I am all she has left in this world.

Gramma Pearl always told me, Bad things happen in threes.

Uncle David died in April.

GrandMary had a stroke in June.

If I stay home, I can stop the third bad thing from happening. Even if it means waiting a little longer to follow the Plan.

I should go. I kiss Mom and then GrandMary goodbye. As soon as I leave the facility, I break into a run. I usually walk the few blocks home as a cooldown, but today I sprint until I reach my driveway. Gasping, I collapse beneath my prayer tree. Waiting for my breath to return.

Waiting for the normal part of the New Normal to begin.

CHAPTER 2

Lily’s Jeep screeches into the driveway. Wearing all black as usual, my best friend hops out so I can climb into the back seat. Granny June sits in the passenger seat, headscarf tied under her chin, dark brown eyes barely peeking over the dashboard. Between tiny Lily and her great-grandmother, it’s a wonder either can see the road.

Lily’s been my best friend since sixth grade, when she came to live with Granny June. We look like opposites, and not just because of our height difference. I am so pale, the other Nish kids called me Ghost, and I once overheard someone refer to me as that washed-out sister of Levi’s. When Lily lived with her Zhaaganaash dad and his wife, they kept her out of the sun so her reddish-brown skin wouldn’t get any darker. We both learned early on that there is an Acceptable Anishinaabe Skin Tone Continuum, and those who land on its outer edges have to put up with different versions of the same bullshit.

Lily’s smile is outlined in glossy black lipstick. It grows wider as she takes in my outfit—jeans paired with one of my dad’s hockey jerseys extending to mid-thigh.

Lady Daunis in her finest gown. It’s my pleasure to drive thee. She bows.

I grin, and it feels like when I slip off a backpack loaded with all my schoolbooks.

I should sit back there. Too much work for you, Granny June says, watching as I flip the driver’s seat forward and wedge my nearly six-foot-tall frame into the back. Like seeing a baby crawl back into the womb. She says this every time we both hitch a ride with Lily.

No way, Granny June, you’re the best copilot.

You do not make an Elder accommodate you. You just don’t.

We often drop Granny June at the Sault Senior Center on our way to work, depending on what’s for lunch. She compares the monthly menus for the two senior-citizen lunch programs, monitoring them as closely as bingo cards during the cover-all. If Granny June thinks the Zhaaganaash are getting a better meal, she makes Lily drop her off at the Sault Senior Center downtown. Otherwise, a tribal van picks her up for the ferry ride to the Nokomis-Mishomis Elder Center on Sugar Island for lunch and social activities.

Did ya do it? Lily gives a knowing glance in the rearview mirror.

Yup.

Did ya use protection? Granny June says. We all laugh, and as Lily turns a corner too quickly, even her tires add a squeal.

No, Granny, Lily says. Daunis told her ma and grandma about not going to U of M. It’s official … Lake Superior State University, baby! She does a high-pitched trill out the window, which startles a few tourists on the sidewalk. Lily’s tried and failed to teach me how to lee-lee, which some Nish women do to call out an accomplishment.

Granny June turns to look at me and scowls. I wait for her to tell me to sit up straight. It’s what GrandMary would say.

My girl, some boats are for the river and some are for the ocean.

I think Granny June is right. I just don’t know which one I am.

Lily gives me a sympathetic look in the rearview mirror. In science, a mixture has two or more components that don’t join chemically. Like oil and vinegar. Lily knows it’s how I feel: sad about not being in Ann Arbor, yet glad to share freshman year with her. Both feelings existing separately but swirling around together inside me.

We drive past gift shops along one side of the street. The other side follows the river, where a crowd of tourists watches a thousand-foot-long freighter pass through the Soo Locks.

I remember when we went to downtown Ann Arbor and took the campus tour last fall. GrandMary’s enthusiasm contrasted with Mom’s annoying questions about crime rates. Uncle David—who rarely sided against my mother—insisted that I needed to earn my degree far from home. But to me the University of Michigan meant more than just an education. It was freedom from the gossip that has surrounded me my whole life.

Daunis Fontaine? Wasn’t her dad that hockey player, Levi Firekeeper? He was one of the few Indians from Sugar Island with potential.

I remember when he knocked up Grace Fontaine. Richest, whitest girl in town.

Didn’t he booze it up at a party on Sugar Island and crash his car with her in it?

What a shame when he broke his legs in the crash! Just when the scouts were coming around. Ended his hockey career.

Mary and Lorenzo sent their daughter to stay with relatives in Montreal, but when she came back with a three-month-old baby girl, Levi was married to someone else and had Levi Jr.

I heard mousy Grace stood up to her parents when they tried keeping that baby girl from Levi and all those Indian relatives.

Oh, and then there was that terrible tragedy …

We pass a billboard that usually advertises the Superior Shores Casino and Resort, but for the past month, the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe has encouraged enrolled members to vote in today’s Tribal Council election. Last night, someone graffitied it, changing one letter to make it read: VOTE! IT’S YOUR TRIBAL ERECTION.

I’d vote for that, Granny June says. Lily and I crack up again.

Then Granny rants about how it doesn’t matter who gets elected because they end up serving themselves better than any of the members.

Now, when I die, yous gotta promise to get Tribal Council to be pallbearers at my funeral—she pauses for dramatic effect—so they can let me down one last time.

I laugh along with Granny June. As usual, my best friend just shakes her head.

Teddie should’ve run, Lily says. She would’ve cleaned up, hey?

My aunt Teddie is the smartest person we know. She’s so badass. Some rabble-rouser tribal members want Sugar Island to declare its independence from the United States. If they ever got Auntie onboard with their half-baked plan, Operation Secede might actually happen.

Eh, Auntie says she can make a bigger impact as Tribal Health director, I say.

Granny June chimes in. She’d never win, same as me. Teddie tells it like it is. Voters want pretty lies over ugly truths, hey?

Lily nods, even though neither of us is eligible to vote in a tribal election because we’re not enrolled.

Listen to me, my girls, Granny June says. Strong Ojibwe women are like the tide, reminding us of forces too powerful to control. Weak people fear that strength. They won’t vote for a Nish kwe they fear.

Now I’m the one nodding along to my Elder’s truth.

When we arrive at the Sault Senior Center, Lily does her unique method of parallel parking, pulling in nose first until she taps the rear bumper of the car ahead. We both climb out to help Granny June. She pauses before entering the center.

Me and Teddie got skeletons in the closet. Slept with too many of their men. Her chin juts defiantly. Well, that and our felonies. Lily and I give each other wide-eyed looks as Granny June waves us off.

Back in the Jeep, we burst into peals of laughter.

Holy shit, Lily says. I know Granny June’s got a past, but do you think it’s true about Teddie having felonies? She reverses into the bumper of the car parked behind us and then merges into downtown traffic.

Auntie says all those stories about her ‘youthful shenanigans’ are bull.

Speaking of shenanigans, we set for tomorrow? Lily asks as we head toward the Tribe’s satellite reservation on the mainland.

Yes. We need to celebrate, I say, focusing on the positive part of my decision.

You were so worked up about telling GrandMary. How’d she react?

She, um … she let me know it’s okay. I am touched again by that moment between my grandmother and me, when I realized she saw the situation clearly and that she understood.

See? You always worry for no reason, Lily says.

We reach Chi Mukwa Arena. There are two polling locations for today’s Tribal Council election: one here at the community recreation facility and one at the Elder Center on Sugar Island. Cars already line both sides of Ice Circle Drive. Lily bumps over the curb to park on the grass.

She catches me scanning the lot for any tribal cop cars. Lily’s creative parking skills always attract police attention.

Have you seen TJ yet? Do we really gotta call him Officer Kewadin? She shudders. You didn’t invite him to the party, did you?

No. I did not invite a tribal cop to our party, I say, all peeved. I’m not the one who gets back with my ex every other week.

Lily eyeballs me coolly. Her mouth twitches, but she stays silent. Just as we reach the front row of cars, she slaps my back. Hard.

Ow! What the hell! I turn to see my best friend looking all innocent.

What? You had a black fly on you the size of a hummingbird. This time, she grins.

We crack up. Our laughter is as bubbly as I feel, knowing that everything will be okay.

A gauntlet of tribal members wave campaign yard signs for their favorite candidates as voters enter Chi Mukwa to cast their ballots. One lady perks up when we approach and offers us a plate of homemade cookies.

They’re not enrolled, her sidekick announces coldly.

The cookie lady sets the treats back down and impassively calls out, Have a nice day.

We are descendants—rather than enrolled members—of the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe. My father isn’t listed on my birth certificate, and Lily doesn’t meet the minimum blood-quantum requirement for enrollment. We still regard the Tribe as ours, even though our faces are pressed against the glass, looking in from outside.

As if we wanted their moowin cookies, Lily mutters, sounding exactly like Granny June.

I don’t mention how we both licked our lips at that plate.

The lobby is packed. Voters line the hallway to the volleyball-court-turned-polling-location. Parents drop off their children for the Niibing Program. The summer recreational program provides full-time childcare for kids who need supervised activities intended to tire them out, but is way more effective at exhausting us group leaders.

Just before we part ways to join our different groups, Lily nudges me.

Later, gator.

"After while, Crocodylus niloticus."

We do our special handshake: high five for the tall girl, low five for the shorty, elbow touch, Hacky Sack foot bump, and palm forward to lock thumbs for the butterfly-flutter finale.

Love ya, geek! Lily always gets the last word.

CHAPTER 3

When it’s time for our last activity of the day, I bring my group of nine- and ten-year-olds to the locker room to put on sweatshirts, hats, and gloves for open skate. I turn it into an Ojibwe language lesson, naming each item in Anishinaabemowin as I put it on.

Naabikawaagan, I say, wrapping my scarf around my neck as we step onto the ice.

Hey, Bubble! Levi shouts my least favorite nickname across the rink.

On Friday afternoons, the Sault Ste. Marie Superiors skate with the kids. The Supes are an elite Junior A league team, a stepping-stone for guys hoping to play at the college or professional level. GrandMary refers to the Supes as a finishing school for hockey players.

My younger brother, who will be a high school senior, was made team captain in only his second year on the team. In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Supes are regarded as hockey gods—which makes Levi like Zeus, possessing something special that transcends even natural talent and hard work.

We look nothing alike. I’m the spitting image of our father. But where Dad’s facial features were proportional to his large frame, mine are like caricatures. Levi resembles his mom, right down to the dimples, bronze skin, and long eyelashes. Dad was a hockey god, so Levi lucked out there, too. Plus, my brother can be charming, especially when he wants something.

Levi and one of the new Supes are skating with the five- and six-year-olds, which include my six-year-old cousins Perry and Pauline.

Auntie Daunis!

I love when my twin cousins call me Auntie. I ditch my group and skate over to them.

Auntie, did you know today is Friday the thirteenth? Pauline sounds like a teacher.

Uncle Levi says bad luck is just made-up horseshit, Perry chimes in.

I imitate Pauline’s schoolmarm tone. Levi, did you know that responsible aunts and uncles don’t swear around young, impressionable minds? The Supe next to Levi snickers. See, New Guy knows what I’m saying.

It’s Jamie, New Guy says. Jamie Johnson.

Eh. Let’s see what you bring to the team before I learn your name, I say.

OutKast’s Hey Ya! blasts over the rink sound system as I take off my extra-long scarf. Perry and Pauline latch on to the ends, and I pull the twins around the rink.

Dad used to do this with Levi and me—a kid on each end, with the middle of the scarf around his waist like a harness. My dad’s scarf was jade green, the same color as Mom’s eyes. Perry pleads to go faster. That girl is happiest on warp speed, with her long blue-black hair fanning behind her like jet vapor condensation trails. Impulsively, I double back to Levi, digging in my hockey skates for four quick lateral pushes. Enough to make Perry squeal but not get Pauline rushed out.

Just before I reach my brother, I halt with a quarter turn. My hockey blades shear the ice. The shavings hit Levi and New Guy. I flash a grin as they jump back a second too late. Levi is amused, but New Guy’s jaw drops with something like shock and awe.

I check the twins’ trajectory. Perry tries mimicking my stop. She falls over but pops right back up. Pauline keeps going until she bounces off the dasher board and lands on her back. I’m certain she’s okay, but I skate over anyway. New Guy follows me.

When I reach her, Pauline looks up at me, breaking into a jack-o’-lantern grin. Her beautiful face is the darkest amber—a perfect and precious deep golden brown. She flaps her mittens at me.

Pick me up! she pleads.

I remember how, as a kid, I once fell hard, my helmet smacking the ice. Dad was at my side in an instant, deep voice booming, N’Daunis, bazigonjisen! I scrambled to stand while my eyes saw stars. That’s my girl!

Whenever I fall, my dad’s voice is the thunder following the crack of lightning, telling me to get back up.

Eh, you’re fine, I say.

She squeals with delight when New Guy helps her up.

You should’ve let her lie there like a slug till she freezes, I tell him. I try not to smile when he spins Pauline on the ice and laughs along with her. People are watching and I’m not giving the gossips anything to comment on.

I look around for Lily. She’s surrounded by preschoolers inching forward with their colorful plastic skate helpers. She makes eye contact, as well as a lewd gesture with her hand and tongue. Clearly, Lily agrees with everyone who’s been yammering nonstop about the new Supe since the team for the 2004–2005 season was announced a week ago.

Jamie Johnson is crazy hot.

Jamie Johnson’s scar makes him look mysterious.

Isn’t it too bad that Jamie Johnson has a girlfriend back home? Yeah, that won’t last.

And, worst of all …

Hey, Daunis, can you ask Levi to assign me as Jamie Johnson’s Supe ambassador?

I sneak a glance at him. Empirically speaking, I suppose Jamie is good-looking. He’s got huge dark eyes and dark brown hair long enough for curls to go in different directions. I’m more interested in the scar that runs from the outer edge of his right eyebrow to his jawbone. I study it. It doesn’t have the plump overgrowth of a keloid, so that makes it a hypertrophic scar.

Levi told me about you. You’re headed to the University of Michigan, Jamie says, watching the twins skate back to their group leader.

Oh, I … um … change of plans. I meet Levi’s eyes as he joins us. I’m gonna go to Lake State. My mom needs me. I clear my throat. You know … with everything going on.

I don’t mention Gramma Pearl’s warning about bad things happening in threes.

You’re staying? Levi shouts. Woo-hooooo! My brother picks me up and spins me until I’m nauseous. I whack at his back, laughing. His happiness is kind of contagious.

Levi sets me down. Now we’ve got something to celebrate this weekend. Party at the big house tomorrow at eight, right? Beer will be ice cold.

Lily and I will be there.

Still cheering, Levi skates away like the Pied Piper, leading a line of kids who imitate his footwork.

So, you’re sticking around. Jamie’s smile extends to his eyes, and the last traces of nausea somersault in my stomach.

Nonempirically speaking, Jamie Johnson is hot when his eyes sparkle like that.

He keeps talking. I wish you were gonna be a senior too. But, hey, at least you get to miss out on my uncle Ron as your science teacher.

I nod even as my nose stings with familiar tingles, which I force away with a clenched jaw.

Is that a bad thing? Jamie’s voice deepens slightly with concern.

No. It’s just … Your uncle is filling my uncle’s job at Sault High. The image of Uncle David adjusting the gas flame of a Bunsen burner triggers a tidal wave of sadness. And fury.

Jamie waits for me to say more.

He died a few months ago. It was awful. I correct myself. It’s still awful.

When someone dies, everything about them becomes past tense. Except for the grief. Grief stays in the present.

It’s even worse when you’re angry at the person. Not just for dying. But for how.

My mother fainted when she heard the news about Uncle David. Later, when the police provided details, she insisted he had been sober for over thirteen years. Not a drop of alcohol since the day Mom returned from the library on campus and found five-year-old me on the sofa reading books to my passed-out uncle. She was adamant that her brother had never used other substances. Ever.

I’m very sorry, Daunis.

My name sounds different in his almost-husky voice of concern. He stretches my name, so it sounds like Dawww-ness, rather than the way my Firekeeper relatives say it: Dah-niss.

Lily calls my name and points with her lips toward the dashers, where Teddie is waiting. My aunt motions for me. I skate over, a bit surprised when Jamie follows.

Hey, I came here to vote and pick up the girls, but now there’s a thing at work. Auntie notices Jamie. Hi, I’m Teddie Firekeeper. You must be the new Supe everyone is talking about. It’s a big deal whenever another Native player makes the team. Where are you from?

Jamie Johnson, ma’am. He offers his hand. From all over. We moved a lot.

Auntie looks respectable, in a pantsuit with a gorgeous, beaded floral medallion. But, there’s still the echo of the girl who would’ve throat-punched you for calling her Theodora.

I meant which tribe, she clarifies.

Cherokee, ma’am. But I didn’t grow up around any family.

I glance at Jamie. I cannot fathom growing up without relatives. I have so many family members, not all blood-related, who have surrounded me my entire life. Plus a lot of matriarchs and mini-matriarchs-in-training.

You need me to keep the girls awhile, Auntie?

Can you? She sounds relieved. Gotta go back to work. T-shirts came in for next week’s immunization fair, and they have an owl saying, ‘Be wise. Immunize!’ Auntie shakes her head. No one caught it before ordering three hundred shirts, hey?

Holy. Lily skates over in time to add her succinct opinion.

What’s the problem? Jamie directs the question to me, confused. Either Cherokees have different teachings about owls or else Jamie doesn’t know his culture.

In Ojibwe culture, the owl is a companion for crossing over when you die, I explain. Not exactly the ambassador you want telling Nish parents to immunize their babies.

Auntie adds, Not everyone knows their teachings. So I’m meeting the community health worker and her supervisor back at the office so we can rush-order new shirts.

On a Friday night? Lily’s both appalled and impressed.

Well, it’s a problem they helped create, so they need to be part of the solution. Auntie calls to the twins in Anishinaabemowin. Aambe, jiimshin. They hurry over for kisses and hugs.

After their mother leaves, Pauline asks Jamie to lift her up. He does, and she poses like it’s their Olympic performance. I admire how he holds her with perfect technique, which I recognize from the years of figure-skating lessons I endured in exchange for GrandMary letting me play hockey as well. I wonder how long Jamie trained as a pairs figure skater before he switched to hockey?

Lily catches me watching him.

I’d say it’s too bad the new Supe has a girlfriend, but I know you don’t date hockey players because of your moowin Hockey World rules. She sounds almost mad about it.

Yup. Gotta keep Hockey World separate from Regular World. On the ice, I know the rules. But off the ice, the rules are always changing. My life goes more smoothly when Hockey World and Regular World don’t overlap. Same with my Fontaine and Firekeeper worlds.

But the good stuff happens when worlds collide … osmosis combustion, Lily says.

I grin. You’re thinking of collision theory. When two things collide and exchange energy if the reacting particles have enough kinetic energy.

Oh yeah. How could I have gotten them confused? She laughs. But seriously, though, your rules are so black-and-white. Why can’t you just—

Lily? A voice calls out. We both turn, and I freeze when I see Lily’s ex-boyfriend standing near the dasher door a few feet away. I tense at his familiar, hopeful smile, then look to Lily for my cue on how to react.

Back in the sixth grade, we were in the cafeteria when Lily first heard sweet, dorky Travis Flint burp the alphabet. She laughed so hard that she snotted milk from her nose. It was the best reaction he’d ever gotten; Travis instantly fell for Lily. When he grew up, in high school, revealing chiseled cheekbones and a square jaw, girls suddenly noticed the class clown was beyond handsome. Travis was radiant, especially when making Lily laugh.

That all changed back in December, halfway through our senior year.

I watch Lily closely. If she talks to Travis, I’ll have to brace myself for another episode in The Lily and Travis Saga. It’s a show that keeps getting renewed even though they repeat the same storyline.

Fortunately, she skates away, clearly uninterested in speaking with him. Travis isn’t wearing skates, but I block the half door opening to the ice anyway, channeling every inch and pound of my body into becoming an impenetrable wall. Every hockey team needs a goon, someone to start shit or avenge wrongdoing. I am Lily’s goon.

Aw, Dauny, don’t be like that. The hollows under his cheekbones are concave to the point of sickly. Any softness is gone. He seems like a shell of the funny boy who once made me laugh so hard that I peed my pants a little. I swear I’m clean. Just wanna talk to her.

Not gonna happen, Trav. I put my hands on my hips to become even wider.

I’m clean, he repeats. I’m staying clean for her.

I know, I say. I believe he truly means it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for him to be near Lily. I usually call guys on their crap, but the sincerity in his voice almost makes me want to hug him. It’s different from the typical Guy Lies.

Guy Lies are the things guys declare in the heat of the moment, which fade with time and distance. I’ve heard quite a few Guy Lies thanks to TJ Kewadin, the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe’s newest cop. I can’t stop thinking about you. Or U of M is only two hours from Central, we can make that work. And my personal favorite? I love

Reviews for Firekeeper's Daughter

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD narrated by Isabella Star LeBlancFrom the book jacket: Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she is thrust into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug. My reactionsBoulley’s debut is a gripping story. Daunis is a marvelous character: strong in mind and body, determined, observant, dutiful, intelligent and still a vulnerable teenager. She’s on the path to success, following her late uncle’s early example in her study of science. Intent on a career in medicine, she’s also well-versed in the traditional herbal medicines of the Ojibwe healers. But she IS a teenager, and her emotions sometimes overwhelm her. Daunis has difficult decisions to make about whom to trust and whether to put her faith in the traditional teachings of her Ojibwe father, or follow the example of her white mother, uncle and grandmother. The situations she finds herself in are frequently dangerous and a couple of scenes are difficult to witness. Boulley keeps the tension high with a number of twists and turns in the plot. As happens in real life, not all the bad guys get what’s coming to them, but the ending is nevertheless satisfying. Isabella Star leBlanc does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. Her pacing is good and I loved how she interpreted Daunis.

[terran_9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked everything about this book. It was a realistic portrayal of young Native Americans who wish to be a part of the modern world as well as honoring their elders and traditions. The history of prejudice and mistreatment has shaped much of the present reality of Native life and resulted in a great deal of abuse and addiction. But young people are capable of accomplishing individual goals while remaining true to their culture.

[opheliedepoortere · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It could have been a bit shorter, I would have given it the full 4 stars then.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Initially I was fine with the slow pace, it made sense to take time to introduce the characters, the community and the culture, really set the scene and get the reader invested before things escalated, only that sluggish feeling never went away, even at the height of the action, the book kind of did that horror movie thing where every time the heroine wriggles free of one jam she falls directly into another which for me almost always feels more tiresome than propulsive. I liked Daunis, she cares about her family and community, she’s smart, she’s persistent, I just wish she’d been an amateur sleuth here stepping on the toes of law enforcement, I could have bought into that, instead I struggled with the plausibility of the FBI recruiting an eighteen year old informant, teaching her to make meth and asking her to source ingredients all because she excelled in high school science? There was no one else who could compare samples to photos online? Wouldn’t the FBI have their own experts who test drugs and identify ingredients? There were also already two undercover officers who seemed interested in solving the case yet we never see them so much as ask anyone (other than Daunis) a leading question or really do anything that resembled undercover investigative work. They mostly just accompanied Daunis places and conveniently disappeared from those scenes while a teenager with no investigative experience was always the only one ever shown investigating anything. The guilty, as well as the method for transporting the meth seemed too obvious and then there was the Scooby-Doo of it all, that moment where the guilty just proudly unburden themselves of the who, what, where of their criminal enterprise, spelling everything out. It’s a clunky way of conveying information and that wasn’t the only time this book tended towards info dumps which is an understandable issue for a first time author but something the editor probably should have intervened on. Despite decent chemistry, the romance didn’t entirely work for me, either. Since Daunis has baggage involving guys lying to her and this guy seriously lies to her, it puzzled me as to why she showed so little resistance to him and I wondered at his lack of resistance to her, too, when he seemed ambitious and involvement with Daunis could have hindered those ambitions. For me, it would have made more sense if the romance had been restricted to the tension and sparks of them denying/not acting on their attraction. The author crafted other far more compelling aspects of this novel that unfortunately more often than not took a backseat to the investigation and the romance. The book was at its best, the writing at its most confident and least labored whenever the book pushed the genre stuff aside. I would have been more than satisfied to read an entire book about Daunis and Lily’s friendship, about their status issues and how any change in that may have affected their tight bond, about Daunis interacting with the elders, about Daunis dealing with her grandmother’s racism, about the experience of two Indigenous girls in college which I mean how many books have ever shown Daunis and Lily’s real-life counterparts what college life might look like for them? This could have been that book, it should have been, there are already enough half-baked crime stories in the world.

[emquixotic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow this book seriously blew away my expectations. This is less young adult and more "new adult" and adult. I wouldn't recommend this book to immature teens or teens who may be unable to handle the traumatic events. The main character, Daunis, is 18 and ready to begin her first year of college--which was supposed to be UM Ann Arbor but she's decided to stay home for a year and attend Community College.A lot happens in this book including rape and the main character witnessing a murder. It takes place in 2004 which I'm so curious if teens reading this will enjoy or just be confused by. I graduated in 2004 (HS) and really enjoyed the references the author made to set the scene. Looking forward to seeing this author talk about her book and so excited there are more Native American authors writing stories about their tribes and experiences.

[dairyqueen84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked a lot about this book but I don't think I loved it as much as many other people. I loved the Indigenous point of view, main character, traditions, and culture in the book. Boulley did a great job weaving native language into the narrative with translation. Sometimes there appeared to be no translation which was confusing. She integrated romance and mystery for a compelling read, especially toward the end of the book. At times, especially the first half of the book the story was slow and plodding. Worth the read, though, for the insights into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, indigenous culture with its problems and triumphs.

[deslivres5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

YA Mystery novel which takes place in the Sault Ste. Marie area of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, so close to Canada, at first I thought it actually was the setting.Heartbreaking tragedies frame this crime/murder mystery.Native American cultural representation, bi-racial representation, women in hockey rep.The actress Isabella Star LaBlanc was a fabulous narrator of the audiobook.I really didn't like something which happened at the end of Part 2 of the novel: Daunis is portrayed as so smart and strong but something terrible that happens seemed so out of character to me that I was spitting mad that the author would do this. So mad, I was gonna DNF this one.But I pushed through and in Parts 3 and 4 I realized that including it really helped to further shed light on the myriad of injustices Native Americans face and Native American women in particular.

[bodagirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a story of layers: contemporary setting, respect for and participation in traditional practices, conflicting identities, coming of age story, detective story, and a little romance. I appreciate all of the knowledge that Boulley incorporated throughout the novel, though it did feel a little heavy handed at times, having Daunis give detailed explanations to Jamie repeatedly. I value that so many of the issues of native and indigenous identity were confronted and discussed unflinchingly. Neither the took away from the detective story aspect and many of them (meth epidemic and violence against native women, notably) added to the complexity of the mystery. The fact that the ending wasn't exactly a happily ever after kept this book rooted in reality, when it would have been so easy to tie everything up in a nice bow that so many books in both the mystery and romance genres do.LaBlanc's narration was also top notch. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook to hear the anishinaabemowin rather than trying to decipher it from the printed page.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

audio teen/adult fiction - crime/suspense in Ojibwe tribal reservation, Upper Peninsula Michigan (TW: rape and sexual assault, guns and violence, drug overdose--though not overly graphic)The blurb doesn't sound particularly intriguing, except for the indigenous perspective, but this title got a ton of buzz from librarians and reviewers leading up to the ALA awards (it scored those in multiples), and after finishing the book I can see why. I kind of want to go back and reread the whole thing again but will maybe wait until the waitlist at my library has gone down; I want others to have the chance to read it.took a little while to get into the story (lots of characters) but once it got going it really got going. This has everything: danger/suspense, a probably unwise but irresistable romance, terrific storytelling, excellent narration, strong female characters, complete betrayal, world-class hockey, you name it.

[katielibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ARC courtesy of NetGalley. What a beautiful book. Highly, highly recommend.

[fionaanne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This felt like it needed another round of edits; there's far too much unnecessary tedium and a distinct lack of narrative thrust. The setting is the book's strongest attribute but it's hard to carry a whole story on that.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Daunis Fontaine has never been considered as a member of her tribe because her mother is white, but she has learned the ways of the elders and has practiced her tribe's customs all of her life. As the new hockey season begins, Jamie joins her brother's team and seems interested in dating Daunis. However, Jamie isn't who Daunis thinks he is because she finds out that he and his "uncle" are actually undercover agents trying to unearth a meth ring operating on the reservation. When Daunis's best friend is murdered right in front of her, she agrees to join the investigation as a confidential informant and as Jamie's "girlfriend." Secrets and lies lead to devastating information that changes Daunis's life forever.

Fire Keeper's Daughter is labeled as a young adult novel, but should be listed as new adult due to the overwhelmingly adult content including kidnapping, sex, drug and alcohol abuse, rape, and murder. Even though the mystery and romance are engaging, the story seems overloaded with details, slowing down the pace of the book. While the characters are well developed, the number of characters makes it difficult to follow along at times. Overall, Fire Keeper's Daughter is a well written book with more elements than necessary to make it an excellent story.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Daunis Fontaine is 18 and preparing for college with her best friend Lily in 2004. She's a white and Ojibwe woman who's unenrolled because her well-to-do grandparents refused to put her father on her birth certificate, and her identity is complicated by her constant bridging of two cultures. When meth production (and addiction) threatens her community, FBI investigators ask her to be a confidential informant, leaving Daunis feeling even more in-between than usual while she navigates trying to help them and lying to her family to do it.This was SO good. I loved Daunis and her narration as she digs into the mystery and debates how much to trust the mysterious Jamie Johnson, dealing with grief and loss in her family, and so much more. The author herself is an enrolled member of a Sault Ste. Marie tribe, and knows the area she's describing intimately. The complexity of the characters and their community is especially well done, and the investigation becomes riveting in the end as Daunis gets closer to solving who's behind the meth. The story ends in a satisfying way but I thought it left the possibility of a sequel open, and if there is one I will be on the library holds list ASAP.

[oldandnewbooksmell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Trigger Warning(s): Meth addiction, murder, grief, mourning, kidnapping, mention of drug overdose

The Fire Keeper's Daughter is about a young woman, Daunis Fontaine, who, after witnessing a murder, goes undercover for the FBI to expose those trafficking drugs into the Ojibwe community. Even though she never truly felt like she belonged, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go to protect her community.

Oh wow, this is definitely moving into my Top 10 favorite book list for sure! I know it took me a bit longer to read than when I devour other books I love, but besides a few things happening in my personal life, I felt like this book deserved reading and fully understanding. Angeline Boulley writes about Native American culture and heritage, and because there are simply far too little stories being told by and about Native Americans, I felt like it deserves all the attention I could give it to fully understand. This book shines a light on Anishinaabe people and issues that they, and many other Indigenous communities will see themselves reflected in.

I was hooked on this novel within the first few pages - something about the way Boulley wrote Daunis' voice and narrative really caught me. And it stayed that way through the entire novel. This will be one I will be revisiting for sure and one that I will be recommending to everyone I know as well.

I would say this to be a New YA crime fiction. It has elements of YA in it, but also of Adult Fiction as well (hence the New YA part). Don't let the YA part of it scare you away though! This is something I would suggest going into it as blind as you can, regardless of your age. Like I said before, I'm going to be shoving it in as many people's hands as I possibly can.

*Thank you Bookish First and Henry Holt and Company for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

[acargile-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Firekeeper's Daughter , a well-written novel, successfully places the reader in a Native American modern environment.People talk about diverse novels a lot. Sometimes, a book merely consists of friends being white, black, brown, whatever, and it's considered diverse. While I agree books should reflect real life where we have friends of many color, I also feel that a truly diverse book teaches me about a culture naturally. The references to culture exist within the story as it does in life instead of placed in where the book is obviously saying, "Hey--look, I'm pointing out my diversity here." What makes this novel better arises from its ability to place you in the Ojibwe culture. Daunis Fontaine's parents tragically fell in love, but they could never be together because her father belongs to the Ojibwe tribe and her mother comes from one of the wealthiest families in town who didn't approve of their daughter spending time with this tribesman. Daunis, therefore, fits in neither world perfectly. Looking forward to a new start, Daunis plans to leave for college until her grandmother ends up in a facility, unable to take care of herself as she approaches the end of her life. Daunis can't leave her anxiety-ridden mother to shoulder the responsibility alone. Daunis decides to attend a local college with her best friend Lily.Daunis surrounds herself with her culture. She feels responsible for her mother and works to keep mom's anxiety level low, visiting her grandmother every morning after her run. Daunis also runs defense for her best friend who has broken up with her drug-addicted boyfriend. She feels close to her half-brother, Levi, who watches out for her even though she doesn't need it. She's more than capable of taking care of herself. They also have a close-knit set of friends from hockey. Daunis and Levi are amazing hockey players, although Daunis no longer plays.Jamie, a new hockey player, arrives and every girl is smitten. Levi asks Daunis to show him the ropes because he has a girlfriend and he knows she won't attack him. Of course, Jamie and Daunis find they are drawn to each other, especially when they have to pretend to be boyfriend/girlfriend. A lot of reservation kids have been injured from a bad drug. There's an investigation to discover who is making and distributing the drug. Daunis feels highly motivated to help and agrees to work undercover with Jamie to discover who the drug makers and dealers are. As the novel progresses, more and more information reveals Daunis's past with her family and friends and why she no longer plays hockey. I ordered this novel for our middle school library because two teachers requested it. I find it to be high school level--not that we don't have some really good readers who will like it. It's reviewed for ages 14+. As we have 15 year old students on campus, this novel is geared to our older students. The novel discusses drug addiction as well as distributing and manufacturing drugs. it doesn't tell one how to do it, rest assured. Perhaps the most mature part of the novel comes with the role of the women. The statistics used represent a woman's life within a reservation, so it's not all women. Of course, what happens to these women happens to women around the world from all socio-economics status and in regards to all colors. Sex and rape are referenced within the context of this community. In essence, this novel requires a mature reader who understands the novel represents life on a reservation and it's a fictional story about tracking down bad people who do not seem to care that their product causes people to die. It's all about the money! It's well-done and has a good message.

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This reminds me in very favorable ways of the late Tony Hillerman as well as the terrific author William Kent Krueger. It blends Native American mythology/culture with contemporary issues many teens face. Think fitting in, drug and alcohol abuse, family violence, prejudice and secrets. All of these are mixed together to offer readers a seamless and enthralling plot. It deserves a place on every library shelf.

[liscarey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Daunis Fontaine is eighteen years old, daughter of a white woman and an Ojibwe man, an unenrolled tribal member with much-loved family on both sides of the divide. She's had to delay her plans to head off to college with the goal of becoming a doctor, and eventually scientifically studying traditional medicines. Her uncle, her mother's brother died in what appeared to be a drug overdose, and then her maternal grandmother, GrandMary, had a stroke. Her mother needs her support.It's a challenging time for her, but there's a bright spot--the new guy, Jamie Johnson, on her brother Levi's hockey team. Yet something about this nice guy does not quite add up.Answers start to come only after Daunis witnesses a former friend, Travis, shooting his ex-girlfriend, Lily, Daunis's best friend, and then himself. Soon Daunis is recruited as a "confidential informant" in an FBI drug investigation, and is learning secrets she didn't necessarily want to know.This is a really good, moving look at a girl just reaching maturity, coping with conflicted loyalties, competing obligations, and truths about her family that she didn't suspect and wasn't prepared for. It's a painful coming of age for her, and she has to find her own strength. She's not just deciding where her loyalties really lie and what her values really are; she also has to decide what serving those loyalties and values really means. It feels very real to me as the story of a young woman at this point in her life, where she can no longer just trust her elders but has to make her own choices even if it divides her from people she cares about.I'm in no position to evaluate the accuracy of the Native American aspects of the story, but the author is an enrolled member of the tribe she's writing about, and it seems to have been well received.It's a really excellent book, and the narrator did a very good performance of it, also. Recommended.I bought this audiobook.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book had me hooked as Daunis navigates the year after high school, reeling from the death of her uncle and her best friend. A new, handsome hockey player comes to town. While she has always kept her hockey life and personal life compartmentalized, she makes an exception. She soon decides to become a CI (confidential informant) on a drug investigation within her tribe and into the hockey world. While torn, she takes this chance to try to help her people. She is living between two worlds with a white mother and a Ojibwe father. I marveled at how Daunis navigated through all the trauma she experienced over the course of this novel. I appreciated how the author wove in so many cultural traditions as part of Daunis' daily life. Whoa! This is a book that will stick with me.

[whiskeyinthejar-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It’s hard to explain what it’s like being so connected to everyone and everything here … yet feeling that no one ever sees the whole me.Daunis Fontaine is eighteen years old the year her uncle dies from an apparent drug overdose and her GrandMary Fontaine has a stroke. Daunis has decided to go to a local college that is closer to help her mother through the grief of it all. Jamie Johnson is the new senior transfer and hot new hockey player but while Daunis is drawn to him, he never answers questions and always asks them.Daunis has always felt the divide between her Zhaaganaash and Anishinaabe parentage sides, especially now more than ever as she must decide if she is helping or betraying. To know zoongidewin is to face your fears with a strong heart.Firekeeper's Daughter is a slice of life fictional story that is told solely in first person point-of-view from our main character Daunis. It was an absorbing tale that had me knowing Daunis inside and out but left some other characters feeling a little vague. When Daunis' mother was sixteen, she got pregnant by Levi Firekeeper, it was the tale of rich white girl who's family looked down on the Anishinaabe boy, even though he was an elite hockey player for the local team. More angst follows when Daunis' mom catches Levi cheating, he crashes his car breaking his legs and ending his hockey career and Daunis' grandparents do their best to keep Levi away. Levi ends up dying when Daunis is seven but she has a half-brother, Levi Jr, that she is close with and her Aunt Teddie from her dad's side keep Daunis connected to the Firekeepers. Daunis also has a bestfriend Lily who has a similar background and they bond over how they are descendants but not enrolled members of the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe. This push and pull Danuis experiences, sometimes from her own family members, was a big part of the fabric of the story and I thought the author did a great job portraying the emotions that Daunis had to learn to deal with when the racism came from strangers and her own family members. Jamie Johnson is not who he says he is. And this is not a dream.With this slice of life story, we get a little bit of romance, mystery, and some thriller. There's an immediate attraction between Daunis and the new guy Jamie. As Daunis is wary but trying to get to know Jamie, we see her friend Lily dealing with her ex-boyfriend Travis, who was also friends with Daunis. Travis is dealing with an addiction to Meth and we learn that the community has been dealing with an uptick of this. When Daunis witnesses a traumatic event, she sees Jamie and it finally clicks that he's an undercover cop. This is where the mystery comes in and Daunis is now acting as a confidential informant for the FBI and the task force investigating where a batch of meth that severely sickened kids in Minnesota came from and who is selling it. Daunis' activeness and the whole investigation, especially Jamie and his pretend Uncle, is very slow moving and not always front and center. It's a slow burn investigation that focuses more on how drugs come into this community and affects them through Daunis' eyes. There were times I wanted the investigation to be taken more seriously or more action but the focus here is more on Daunis learning how to honor both sides of her heritage and help without betraying her Anishinaabe family. In this Newer New Normal I am living a lie as a confidential informant for the meth investigation connected to the deaths of my uncle and my best friend.Daunis' newer new normal begins about 20% into the story, so Daunis working in the investigation encompasses most of the book. The book is also broken up into five parts and I saw Part One as the intro to Daunis and into the community and sets up Part Two where Daunis is a confidential informant, Part Three we know the investigated players and get a little bit of thriller, and then Part Four is the aftermath of what the investigation revealed. This takes place in 2004 and in a town in Michigan that rests on the border with Canada and I thought the author did a great job setting the time, place, and feel for the community. As I said earlier, Daunis is the standout character and I would have liked some others to be filled out more. I'm not sure we ever really got to know Jamie as much as I would have liked, Danuis' Aunt Teddie deserves to have her story written, and if this gets another book for a series, I want it to be about Daunis' ex-boyfriend T.J. Kewadin. Wisdom is not bestowed. In its raw state, it is the heartbreak of knowing things you wish you didn’t. I thought the ending was rushed and there's a little bit of info dump when players are revealed and motivations explained. There was also a rape scene that I'm not sure was handled as carefully as it could and should have been; it ended up feeling abruptly put in for some heaviness. I think this might read a little slow for young adults but has elements that will work to keep their attention, reading it as an adult, it kept me locked in. This window into Daunis' life was an affecting slice of life story and strong debut, I will definitely be on the lookout for future works by this author.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can't stop thinking about this book. the raw, emotional authenticity of it is jaw dropping. It's 2003 and Daunis is torn between two worlds; her tribal heritage on her father and brother's side and her prim, wealthy and white, mother's side. Her father's family took her under their wings even though her father died when she was seven and her mother raises her. Daunis never feels Indian enough or white enough - she is in between. Bad things come in threes and after her Uncle's death and her grandmother's decline she's waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it finally does it is even worse than she expected, Daunis' life will never be the same. How can she go on? And can she get involved and maybe help her community? Or will her involvement bring scrutiny to her heritage and her elders? This book is long and there are a few trigger warnings you should look up (I don't want to spoil too much) - but it is ABSOLUTELY WORTH YOUR TIME! I love that this Indigenous author sprinkled traditions, phrases, words, and experiences throughout this book. It's authentic and eye opening - I learned so much. I vague-booked this review because I don't want to spoil anything - just READ IT!!

[hccpsk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the author’s note of The Firekeeper’s Daughter, Angeline Boulley says she wanted to write a contemporary, Native Nancy Drew character who used her culture and community as her greatest strength. Daunis Fontaine meets those goals and more. With a Native father and white mother who never married, Daunis never felt accepted in her Ojibwe community. When drugs and murder bring the FBI to her UP Michigan town, she goes undercover to help find out who is behind all of the trouble. Boulley adds just the right amount of romance, family, feminism, hockey, and Native culture to the mystery to bring something for almost every reader. A huge recommendation for YA readers looking for a mystery or contemporary book with a strong female lead and a real social justice angle.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is so much to absorb in Angeline Boulley’s debut novel. The storyline is excellent, that of a girl beginning her college education being recruited by the FBI as an informer helping to track down the meth that is targeting tribal members. The slow start to the book is most appreciated as you end the story. The early pages set the stage for the Ojibwe way of life as it meets the needs of current tribal members. Daunis Firekeeper is an excellent protagonist. For a young woman, she has an amazing respect for her culture. Her mother is white, her father was Ojibwe. Never marrying Daunis’s white mother, he married a native woman and is later killed. Daunis’s half-brother, Levi, plays a major role in the story, both in the meth issue and hocky. If you live right next to Canada, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ice hockey rules supreme. If it were just the story plot of capturing the bad meth distributers, the story would be still good, but when you add in Daunis’s observations about a native culture that works to make women self-confident leaders, her respect for elders and the look at science and traditional medicine it becomes almost required reading. There’s a lot of violence in the book, violence against women and violence toward each other. One of my favorite parts is the Women’s Circle, who at night take a man who has mistreated a woman to a secluded area and hand out their own form of justice. The book is aimed at audiences 14 years old and up. It would make an excellent mother-daughter bookclub selections. And as Daunis knows the value (literally keeping her from dying) of strong and worthy elders, a discussion from different points of view would add to the enjoyment of the story. While many would say this is a plot driven story, without the variety and strengths and weaknesses of the characters, the story would not have the depth it does.

[alliepascal-876024 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Daunis Fontaine is half white and half Ojibwe, and her Grandmother Pearl always told her that bad things happen in threes. Within months, her Uncle David died and her GrandMary (Grandmother Mary) had a stroke and is now stuck in a long-term care facility. She can feel the third bad thing on the horizon, so she decides to enroll in a college closer to home, with the idea that she can stop it. Well, the third bad thing happens... But even though she couldn't prevent that tragedy, she's given the chance to help prevent the circumstances that caused it from happening again.This book's greatest strength is it's complete and total immersiveness in the culture of its setting. Boulley doesn't really hold your hand about terms that you might be unfamiliar with, and I actually really appreciated that. That's not to say it's weak in any other respect; on the contrary, I was impressed by this book on the whole. Boulley's writing, the prose in general but especially the dialogue between characters and the way they interact...the way Daunis is with her family, with her best friend, with a stranger who she might be falling for, all feel so authentic. It's engaging as a suspense thriller, and I also loved the complicated relationship Daunis has with JaimeIt might've dragged in parts? 50 or so pages I feel could've been edited out (it's fairly long at almost 500 pages). But really, I barely noticed.Loved loved loved this book.*I received an ARC from the publisher through BookishFirst

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Daunis Fontaine is a young woman pulled between cultures. She is the illegitimate daughter of a White mother and Ojibwe father. Her mother was sixteen when she was born and her White grandparents didn't want her to have anything to do with her father's people. Her mother rebelled and made sure that Daunis knew her father's family. While Daunis loves her grandparents, she also loves and honors her Native family and its traditions.Daunis has just graduated from high school and had intended to leave home for the University of Michigan to begin her studies to be a doctor. But her Uncle David has recently died and her GrandMary has suffered a stroke which has left her mother in a very fragile state of mind. Daunis has changed her plans and is now going to attend the nearby community college with her best friend Lily in order to stay at home and take care of her mother. Only plans change again when her friend Lily is killed by Lily's ex Travis who has become a meth head and who then kills himself. Daunis and her new friend Jamie are quick to come upon the scene. There she learns that her new fried is an undercover cop sent to investigate the growing meth problem on the reservation. Lily agrees to become a confidential informant to try to get to the bottom of the drug problem on the Rez. Her knowledge of chemistry and her in with both the Whites and the Natives puts her in a powerful position to be of help. But it also puts her in a position to learn a number of secrets that she would prefer not to know.This excellent story is filled with information about Ojibwe beliefs and rituals and culture. It is also a great depiction of the hockey culture of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An it is an excellent mystery/thriller that kept me guessing about the whole situation. Along the way there is a growing love story between Daunis and Jamie that was filled with much more than the usual "getting to know you" of a normal relationship.It was wonderful watching Daunis grow into her own power as a strong Native woman and decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in—both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. When her family is struck by tragedy, Daunis puts her dreams on hold to care for her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother’s hockey team.After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?